Stand
by 2remember
Summary: Rated 'M' for horror genre violence, adult situations, and adult language. After 'The Key,' will Jeremie's seemingly innocent choice of reading material condemn the gang to death or worse?
1. The End

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

The school year was over at Kadic Junior High, and most of the boarding students had left for the summer. Ulrich Stern, Jeremie Belpois and Odd Della Robbia, however, were not among that fortunate majority. Ulrich's parents were away from home on business for the summer; Odd's parents couldn't bring Odd all the way home for two months, then send him back, and Jeremie's parents were having some kind of problem Jeremie wouldn't talk about, and couldn't bring him home for the summer. 

There were two bright spots in the boy's bleakness. Yumi Ishiyama wasn't a boarding student at Kadic, her parents lived in Paris. Yumi had been friends with the boys for several years now, and her presence made the summer tolerable. Especially to Ulrich.

The other bright spot was Aelita. She had enrolled at Kadic at the beginning of the year, but the boys and Yumi knew her well before that. Aelita came from a, different place, called Lyoko.

Lyoko was a virtual world, one created and maintained by a powerful supercomputer located in an abandoned factory close to the school. Some years before, Jeremie made contact with Aelita in that world, and got to know her. And her problems.

The biggest problem was a program/virus called XANA. Somehow, XANA became self-aware, and was trying to get out of the virtual world of Lyoko, and into the real world.

XANA succeeded.

Before the beginning of school last year, Jeremie found a way to bring Aelita into the real world. He and the others forged together some documents and somehow got Aelita enrolled at Kadic. The only problem was, when she was de-virtualized, XANA did something to her that still kept her tied to Lyoko. Jeremie's original plan was to get Aelita out of Lyoko, the shut the supercomputer down in order to destroy XANA.

Until recently, Jeremie thought that XANA had placed a virus in the program that de-virtualized Aelita. If he could find that code, he could remove it and free her from Lyoko and XANA forever.

With the help of notes left by a man named Franz Hopper, Jeremie discovered that XANA did not put something into Aelita's program, he took something out. Her memories.

They first thought that Aelita was a virtual construct, an Artificial Intelligence program capable of mimicking human thought and emotion. It turned out that Aelita was really human, and Franz Hopper's daughter. Years before, he took Aelita and escaped into Lyoko to avoid some sort of trouble. Somehow, XANA captured and imprisoned him somewhere in the supercomputer.

It also turned out that Hopper created XANA to help him probe and shutdown another program, one that could disrupt communications worldwide. As Hopper improved the XANA code, XANA achieved self-awareness, and gained a desire to escape the supercomputer.

What XANA needed to do that was the access keys securing the interfaces to the real world. The program got half of those codes when he captured Franz Hopper.

Aelita had the other half.

Just a week ago, XANA got the other half of the access keys from Aelita, a process that seemingly killed her. Somehow, her father managed to revive her, and give her all of her memories back.

Aelita was despondent because of XANA's escape. She also wasn't sure whether or not her father survived the memory transfer. She also was depressed because it seemed that the fighting she and the others did was for nothing, and it was going to go on forever. Even though all of the friends vowed to help her continue, they all were depressed.

After that afternoon in Jeremie's room, they drifted apart. They milled about the campus like the walking dead. They barely spoke with one another. They were waiting for The End to come.

* * *

There was one other student at the school in a funk. She was Sissi Delmas, the principal's daughter. Summers were always boring for her. She was always around the school, since she lived there, but there was not a lot to do. Her father was always busy making sure all of the students got home alright, doing principal-like things to make sure the school was ready for the next term, and generally running here, there and everywhere doing anything except spending time with her. 

During the school year, she hung out with some "friends," Herve and Nicholas, but they, like so many others, had gone home for the summer. They weren't really friends however, just hangers-on. But she would even settle for hangers-on right now, anyone!

The one she really wanted to hang on to was Ulrich Stern. She had had her eye on him for years, but he wouldn't hardly give her the time of day. And those friends of his!

Well, really, she wished she could hang out with them too. They always to have such a good time together.

* * *

Before XANA escaped Lyoko, you could hardly pry Jeremie away from his computer. He was almost always connected to the supercomputer where Lyoko was housed, trying to write a program to stop XANA from whatever it was trying to do. Several times he found himself in some kind of trouble because he was on his computer or laptop and not doing what he was supposed to be doing. 

But since the day XANA escaped, he dreaded looking at it. It sat on his desk, like an executioner waiting to swing the ax down.

One day, soon, if he was lucky, it was going to warn him of an attack by XANA. He had no idea what he would do when or if that happened.

So he avoided his room. He would meet up with Ulrich and the others for meals, but afterward would take off on his own. To the Library.

He spent his time in the library reading to try and take his mind off of The End. Strangely enough, the title of a book caught his eye, and he started reading it.

"The Stand," by Stephen King.

Now, this wasn't a book that would normally interest him. Jeremie had no love of horror stories because the images they painted in his mind tended to give him nightmares.

But, somehow, the book caught his imagination. It was a more adult book than he had read before, and some of the scenes embarrassed him, as well as excited him. But he was mesmerized by the story of a small group of people who had to fight the ultimate evil at the end of the world.

In his room, at night, he would pull the book out and read and re-read it. Something almost drove him to devour the story, to try and make it a part of his life.

On a dark Friday night, a week after XANA escaped, he succeeded beyond his wildest imagination.


	2. Sissi's Box

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Friday_

_The end of another dull, dead, day, at the end of another dull, dead, week,_ Sissi thought to herself. Her father was so busy today with "business" that he hardly said two words to her!

She ha-rumped and flopped into bed.

She couldn't even get a chance to talk to Ulrich today. He was moping around as much as she was, and didn't even look up at her when she called out to him today. It was almost like she wasn't there.

A lot of the time, Ulrich would at least shoot an insult at her, tell her to get lost, or something like that. But today, really all week, he just wasn't there. It was almost like he was waiting to be executed.

She thought for a moment about what it would be like on that day when Ulrich would finally pay attention to her. They would go out, laugh, have fun. She might even be able to pal around with him and his friends. Except that Yumi! _No, scratch that, even Yumi._

With that thought somewhat comforting her, Sissi drifted off to sleep.

* * *

She was standing on a dirt road. It was night, and there was a full moon directly overhead. On each side of the road were rows and rows of corn. The road trailed off into the distance towards what looked like a small house. There was a speck of light coming from the house, so Sissi started walking towards it. 

"I wouldn't go up there if I were you, little girl."

Sissi startled at a man's voice coming from within the cornfield.

"You keep walking down the road you're on, you'll wind up in more trouble than you can imagine. Just turn around and go back the way you came. It'll be better for you."

"Who are you to tell me what to do," Sissi yelled back, "you don't scare me!"

"I haven't tried, yet, little girl."

Suddenly, the corn rows erupted with hundreds and thousands of rats, all running for Sissi. She screamed and started running up the road towards the house.

"Run, little girl, run! When I finally catch you, you'll wish you _had_ strangled on your umbilical cord!"

Sissi ran, ran as hard as she could. She could feel the rats scrabbling behind her, catching up to her. She could hear, and almost feel, their teeth gnashing together, anticipating ripping her to shreds.

Suddenly, she crossed into the yard of the house and ran up on the front porch. She started beating on the front door, "Help Me! Please, somebody, HELP!"

"Its alright child, those rats can't get to you here."

Sissi spun around toward the voice.

There, on the porch, sitting in a rocking chair, was an old woman. Sissi had never seen anyone as old as this woman looked. Her skin was about as dark as the old mahogany dresser her grandmother owned. The old woman's hair was pure white, her smile showing that the woman had lost all of her teeth.

"Come over here and sit yourself down," the old woman said. Sissi saw that there was another rocking chair next to the one the woman was sitting in. She hesitated.

"Sit down, child, I don't bite," the old woman smiled again, showing her lack of teeth.

Warily, Sissi sat down next to the woman. "Where am I?" she asked.

"Why you're at my house. You've come looking for something, and I'm going to help you find it."

"I haven't lost anything! And just who are you anyway?"

"Folks call me Mother Abagail and yes, you have lost something, Elizabeth Delmas."

Sissi was surprised that the woman knew her name, and taken aback that she called her 'Elizabeth.' The only time anyone used her given name was when she was in trouble.

"Don't worry, child, everything is going to be alright. I found what you lost and I've been keeping it safe for you. Here."

Mother Abagail reached down and behind her chair and pulled out a box.

It was an old shoe box, with the words "Sissi's Box" written upon it in a child's hand. Abagail handed the box to Sissi and said, "what you lost is inside."

Slowly, not knowing what to expect, Sissi opened the box.

Inside, was a small bird, no more that a chick. I was so young that it still had its downy feathers, and not the adult feathers it would need to fly. Around it was a small, dim glow of orange/red. The glow looked like it was slowly dying out. The chick looked feeble, like it was almost dead.

"What happened to it?" she asked Mother Abagail.

"A lot of things, but the biggest thing is that you haven't been feeding it right," Mother Abagail replied. "What you need to do is get that chick somewhere safe, and feed it the right thing."

"But where? How?" Sissi demanded.

"When the time comes, you'll know what to do," was the reply, "now you'd better run along home."

"But..."

_Saturday_

The alarm clock rang, and Sissi woke up.


	3. The Seed

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Friday_

Aelita settled down for the evening. The day had been like every other day this week. Waiting for the ax to fall. She swore the waiting was worse than what would finally come. At least then they could _do_ something!

She missed Jeremie. Since that day, he avoided everybody. He would slip in for meals, then disappear again. She tried knocking on the door to his room, but he either wasn't there or wasn't answering. She almost felt that he was ashamed to be around her. That hurt her deeply.

The others tried, but they too were in despair. Just this past Wednesday, she and Yumi went out, to get away from the school and the gloom. They went into town for ice cream, but the town seemed just as sullen as the school. The ice cream almost had no taste. They both ran back to school, then Yumi ran home. Aelita almost thought she heard Yumi crying as she left.

Aelita settled down on the pillow. Even after a year, sleep was a unique thing. In a way, she thought it was almost like dying, and waking up in the morning like rebirth. She relaxed, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

She was standing in a dark field. She had no idea where she was. There was a full moon overhead and for a moment, she couldn't identify the plants around her. They were tall, and had what looked like big pods at different points along their height. Then it came to her, corn. She was standing in a cornfield.

How did she get her? Just as importantly, how did she get home?

She started walking along the rows of corn, trying to find the way out.

She heard, then felt, something scuttling along at the base of the corn stalks. Every now and then, something seemed to run across her feet. She looked down, and saw big, black rats. They looked about as big as a small dog. They had beady little red eyes, and sharp teeth. They were milling about the base of the corn stalks, gnawing at them.

Aelita screamed and started running down the row.

"Over here, Princess," a voice called out a few rows over. Jeremie?

"Over here."

She cut across the rows toward the voice calling to her. She emerged into a small opening in the field. Jeremie wasn't there, but another man was.

He was a full grown man, and fairly handsome. He had long brown hair that came down to his shoulders. He was wearing blue jeans, a blue jeans jacket over a white tee shirt and, of all things, cowboy boots. Aelita had never seen anything like it before.

"Welcome, Princess," the man said. "What brings you out in my field at this time of night?"

"I'm sorry if I'm trespassing," Aelita replied. "I don't know where I am and I don't know how I got here."

"That's okay, Princess," the man replied, "I'm glad you came. I've been waiting a long time for you."

"Have we met?"

"No, but I've wanted to for a while and now I have!" The man smiled at her, and Aelita took a step back.

"Don't go, Princess, hear what I've got to say," the man said, "I know why you're sad. I know why you're scared. And I'm here to help you."

"Help me, how?" she asked.

"By showing you things. Things like you've never seen before. Things that will make all of the bad things and pain go away." He moved closer to her.

There was something about the man that Aelita didn't like. There was something about him that seemed, familiar.

"You know, he only thinks of you as a Princess. I think of you as a Queen."

"A queen?"

"Yes. Join me and I'll make you a Queen. You can rule over all the world and do whatever takes your fancy. You can make the pain and hurt go away. You will never have to worry about XANA or Lyoko again..."

Aelita, without realizing it, took a step forward. He extended his hand.

"Come to me. Sit at my right hand. Be my Queen."

She was slowly moving forward, reaching out her hand to take his. Yes, she could end this. Never to hurt again...

"_What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear..."_

Aelita stopped. The song came from a ways past the clearing, back in the cornfield.

"_What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer..."_

She looked at the man again, almost as if she really saw him for the first time. The smile he had on his face looked like one a predator might have right before it ate its prey.

The other thing that hit her was he almost looked like someone possessed by something. Something she had seen before.

XANA!

Aelita turned and ran back into the cornfield, almost tripping over rats that seemed to jump into her way. She ran and ran to the only thing she could think of, the source of the song.

"You'll regret rejecting my offer!" the man yelled, "I'll suck out your soul and feast on your flesh! You'll regret your decision for eternity!"

Aelita kept running and running. The rats kept scuttling all around her, trying to trip her up, trying to stop her from getting away from the man. Suddenly, she broke out into another clearing. As she ran further into it, she noticed that the rats had stopped following her right at the edge of the clearing. She stopped and took in her new surroundings.

It was a wide clearing, with a road off to one side leading off into the cornfield. In the middle, was a shack. That was the only word for it, a shack. It looked like it was a hundred years old. It was dark, except for a lantern hanging on a hook on the front porch. The lantern was an oil burning one, for the shack didn't seem to have any electricity.

On the front porch, were two rocking chairs. In one of them, was the oldest woman that Aelita had ever seen. She looked as old as, or even older than the cabin itself. Her skin was the darkest brown she had ever seen on a person, her hair white as cotton. Her wrinkles displayed her age, not as battles lost, but honors earned. She was strumming a guitar, singing. This was the singer Aelita heard earlier. The old woman stopped playing and called to Aelita.

"Come on up here and rest yourself awhile."

Aelita walked up to the porch, and sat down in the empty rocker.

"I'm sorry you had to walk through that field tonight and meet up with him," the old woman said, "but there's nothin' that can be done 'bout it."

"Excuse me ma'am, but who are you?"

"My name is Abagail Freemantle, but most folk call me Mother Abagail."

"Where are we?"

"This here is my home. I lived here all my life, well over a hundred years, I reckon," Mother Abagail laughed in reply.

"But why am I here?" Aelita asked her.

"'Cause, child, you've lost something, and I'm going to help you find it again."

"What?"

"Look over there."

Aelita looked in the direction that Mother Abagail indicated and saw a plant. It looked like it had been burnt in a fire. The ground all around the plant was scorched. She was surprised that the plant stood at all. If she were to go up to it and touch it, it would break.

"There wasn't much I could do when it happened, but I saved a little piece of it for you."

Mother Abagail reached into the pocket of the dress she was wearing and pulled out an old tobacco tin. She opened it up and took something out.

"Here."

Aelita held out her hand, and Mother Abagail dropped the something into it.

She looked into her hand and saw a tiny seed.

"That's all I could save of it, but it's enough," Mother Abagail said to Aelita, "all you got to do is find good ground to plant it in, water it good, and it'll grow right back. Find good 'nough ground and it'll grow back bigger than you'd believe!" She smiled at Aelita.

"Now you'd better run along, child. You keep that seed close, and look for a good place to put it!"

"But Mother Abagail, where will I..."

_Saturday_

The alarm clock rang, and Aelita woke up.


	4. A Dry Pump

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Friday_

Yumi stared down at the _goban(1)_. Upon its grid were black and white stones arranged in a pattern that told her she had lost the game.

"I resign," she said to her father.

"Hmm, you haven't been playing you best recently. Is everything alright, or are you just cutting an old man a break," her father replied, smiling.

"Its nothing, I'm just not into the game today," she replied back.

"Well, your mother and I have noticed you moping around the past few days. It doesn't even seem like visiting your friends at school helps. Are you sure there isn't something wrong?"

_Yes, there's something wrong, but you'd think I was crazy if I told you_, Yumi thought to herself. _The End is coming, that's all._

"Would a change of scenery help? I got a letter from my sister in Tokyo on Monday. Your cousin Kichi is an _insei(2)_ at the _Nihon Ki-in(3)_, and studying with Toya Akira. Kichi said he might be able to get you an opportunity to play at the Nihon Ki-in, maybe even get you a short session with Toya-_sensei_!"

Yumi perked up a bit at that comment. She had heard of the boy prodigy, Akira Toya. He was one of the youngest professional go players in Japan. His father had held the _Meijin(4)_ Title for many years, and would probably still hold it if he hadn't retired due to health problems. Akira was tutored in the game of go exclusively by his father, and started winning national titles right and left the first year he turned pro. An opportunity to take a lesson from him, even a short one, would be priceless.

Except she would have to return to Japan. That's probably when The End would come.

"It would be nice, father, but I really don't think I should leave."

"Nonsense, it would be good for you to go home, even for a short visit. I'll contact my sister and see if it can be arranged. You'll feel better about it come next week, I'm sure of it."

"Yes, father," Yumi resigned herself. She got up from the board, and went to her room.

In her room, she undressed, put on her pajamas, and crawled into bed.

Laying down upon her pillow, her last thought to herself before she fell asleep was, _it would be nice to see home just once more, before The End..._

_

* * *

_

Yumi was standing in a cornfield in the dark. She had no idea how she got here, and had no idea where she was.

She looked around, trying to get her bearings. There was a full moon overhead when she looked up. When she looked down, she noticed that the ground looked like it was undulating. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw that it wasn't the ground, but big, black rats running all around the base of the corn stalks. They had beady little red eyes and big, sharp teeth which they were using to gnaw at the stalks of corn.

Yumi startled, took a quick look around her, then started running down the corn row.

Somewhere, a man spoke, "where are you running to, missy?"

Yumi abruptly found herself in a small clearing in the cornfield. At the other end stood a man. He was tall, well built, with shoulder length brown hair. He was wearing blue jeans and a denim jacket over a white crew-necked tee shirt. He stood there, absently kicking the ground with the toe of his cowboy boots.

"I said, where are you going," the man asked again.

"I really don't know, I'm lost," Yumi replied.

"Yes, I know that," he said back. "I can help you with that. I've been watching you, you know. Being dragged all around the world just so your old man can scratch out a pittance. Putting your mother through all that grief. Its ridiculous!"

_He's right,_ a voice inside her whispered. _If your father hadn't been dragging you all over the place, you wouldn't have to worry about the world ending. You might even be studying at the Nihon Ki-in as an insei yourself!_

"I can help you out. I can arrange it so your father could have more money that he ever dreamed possible. You could return to Japan and live happily ever after. You could do whatever you wanted. Just let me help."

"I don't know..."

"Why do you want to stay in France anyway? Those boys?" He said the word _boys_ with a sneer. "All they've ever been looking for is a chance to get in your pants, girl. I bet if they had the opportunity, they'd all fuck you and pass you around like a cheap bottle of wine. The only thing you are to them is an easy lay, ready to take another load!"

Yumi blushed and took a step back.

"Or, maybe you'd like that... Or, maybe you want to be the one doing the using? I could arrange that, too. Think of it, men, women, girls, boys, whatever you felt like, doing whatever you desired. I'll bet that little pink-haired girl would be a real squealer..."

"I don't think so!" Yumi shouted, then turned and ran back into the cornfield.

As she ran, she heard is laughter echoing behind her.

"Go ahead and run, bitch! When we meet again, I'll have my way with you! And I'll make certain your family and friends have a front row seat when I do!"

Yumi kept running, with the man's laughter chasing on and on, until she ran out into another clearing. The moment she broke out of the cornfield, the laughter stopped.

She found herself standing in a small yard, with an old ramshackle house sitting in the middle. There was no light in it, except for an old oil lamp hanging on the front porch.

Sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch was an old black lady. She had deep dark, wrinkled skin, and her hair was as white as winter's snow. And her eyes...

Even from where she was standing, Yumi was drawn to the woman's eyes. They had the look of ageless youth in them, like a child that had never grown old, just aged.

"Its about time you got here, Yumi. I was starting to get worried," the woman called to her, "come up here and sit a spell."

Yumi walked towards the front porch, mounted the single step there before the front door, and sat down in a rocking chair next to the woman.

"Don' pay much mind to what that fella out there tells you," the woman said, "most of what he says is a lie, he just knows how to mix in the littlest amount of truth in to make the lie palatable."

"But what he said about my father, my friends..."

"He could probably do what he said he could do about your father, but if he did, you wouldn't like it very much," the old woman said. "As for your friends, sometimes a boy can get the wrong thing in his head and that could lead to trouble, but that's not the case with your friends."

"I know that," Yumi replied, "that's why I ran. But, where am I? Who are you? Who was he? How do you both know so much about me and my friends?"

"My name is Abagail Freemantle, and this is my home. He is someone you don't want to get to know. He goes by many names, none of them good. Them that call upon his name wind up regretting it forever."

"But Abagail, how does he know anything about me? And for that matter, how do you?"

"We both can see. And that brings me to the question you haven't asked yet."

"Why am I here," Yumi said.

"Right. Yumi, you have a problem. You've only had it for a little while now so you probably don't realize it. Your pump has gone dry."

"What?"

"Your pump's dry. You let it go and the water all dropped back into the well. You're going to have to prime your pump before you can get any more water out of it."

"Pump, water? What are you talking about?"

"Look over there."

Yumi looked where Abagail was pointing and saw an old hand pump sticking up out of the ground. The ground around the pump was bone dry, even though the ground in the rest of the yard looked rich in moisture.

"See? You've let it go so long its dry! You've got to pump some water back up into the pump to prime it again. So get over there and get to it!"

"How about I get a drilling rig and dig a new well," Yumi said back to Abagail and the older woman chuckled. Looking into Abagail's eyes, Yumi saw even more laughter than she was letting show.

"Would that you could, dear one, but that's not the point of the exercise. Git to it."

Yumi sighed, got up out of the rocker, and went over to the pump. When she got there, she grabbed the pump handle and started pumping.

She pumped and pumped and pumped, her arm raising and lowering the handle. With each down stroke, Yumi expected to feel the suction of the water being drawn up, but there was nothing. She kept pumping and pumping and pumping.

As she worked, Yumi's mind started wandering. She thought about her friends.

Odd was the prankster in school. Many times she was surprised that he hadn't been expelled from Kadic Academy for some of the things he did. On Lyoko however, Odd was something else. He was still a smart aleck, but he didn't run from a fight. A lot of times, you had to tell him to ratchet it back, lest he got himself de-virtualized. It didn't always help, but Yumi did it anyway. He was like a kid brother to her.

Jeremie was another thing. He was quiet and shy, too quiet and shy, Yumi thought. If you could get past his shyness, you found a true friend. They had talked many times, both of them, of things they wouldn't dare tell another soul. Several times, Jeremie had helped her through a rough time in her life. His quiet, soft voice would calm the troubled oceans of her soul, and help her find her way back to shore.

Ulrich, on the other hand...

When Yumi thought of Ulrich, it seemed for a moment like the pump had caught.

_Ulrich,_ she thought again, and it happened again, the pump caught like it was ready to pump! She started pumping harder and faster.

Ulrich was a conundrum to her. One day she knew how she felt about him, another day she didn't. One day she just knew what he felt about her, another day, she wasn't sure if he wanted anything to do with her.

She had befriended some other boys over the year, hoping it would help sort her feelings out, or just get some kind of reaction out of Ulrich. Sometimes he would sulk like he was jealous, and that would give her a spark of hope. Other times, nothing. She...

Suddenly, the pump caught again. She slowed her stoke down, hoping to coax the water up and out. Each slow stroke of the handle held resistance as vacuum was drawing the water up and out.

Her mind jumped back to Ulrich, not only because it seemed to help the pumping, but because of the puzzle he presented.

The times they had together. The times they almost kissed. The times they almost told each other...

As she was pumping and remembering, tears started flowing down Yumi's cheek.

_It wasn't fair! Why can't we say what we want to say?_

The tears kept flowing, more now. With each stoke of her arm, the water kept rising in the pump. Finally, a trickle, then a small flow, then the water started gushing out of the pump's spout.

"You did it, Yumi!" Abagail Freemantle's voice came from directly behind Yumi, causing her to jump. "Good work! Now, turn 'round here."

Yumi turned to face Abagail. The old woman was smiling, her face beaming with pride. And those eyes, those eyes were filled with a joy that Yumi could almost not stand to look at it.

"Here, we need to make sure you're ready the next time you need to do this."

Abagail reached into a pocket in her dress and brought out a small glass vial. She removed the stopper, and held the bottle up to Yumi's face. She pressed the lip of the bottle to Yumi's cheek, and caught a teardrop in the bottle. Abagail then pulled the bottle back and replaced the stopper securely.

"There. Now you take this and keep it in a safe place. That way, when the time comes, you'll have it ready."

Yumi, drying her face, was confused. She took the vial, and asked Abagail, "but where am I supposed to put this. And what I am I going to use it for? One teardrop can't do much, let alone prime a hand pump..."

"Child, when the time comes, you'll know what to do and how to use it. Keep it safe 'til then. Now you'd better be running on home."

"But Abagail..."

_Saturday_

"Yumi!" her mother called from the base of the steps, "time to get up!"

**End Notes:**

(1) A _goban_ is the board that the Japanese game of go is played on.

(2) An _insei_ is a person studying to become a professional go player.

(3) The _Nihon Ki-in_ is the headquarters of the Japan Go Association.

(4) The Meijin League is a professional go tournament, and the second most prestigious, in terms of prize money. The winner of this league holds the Meijin Title.


	5. Fun In The Corn

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Friday_

Odd flopped into his bed, ready for sleep. Across the room, Ulrich had already settled down and probably half way asleep. Before getting into bed, Odd made sure his dog, Kiwi, was settled down for the night. Kiwi wagged his tail, gave Odd a quick lick, then curled up in the wardrobe drawer and went to sleep.

Odd laid on his back and stared up at the ceiling. _Just another dull day. I almost wish XANA would have attacked, just to change things up. Oh well, another day, another opportunity._ Odd drifted off to sleep.

From the chest drawer, Kiwi opened his eyes, raised his head and looked intently at his charge before settling back down. _I'd better tag along tonight, something's up,_ were the dogs last thought before sleep came.

* * *

Odd was standing on a deserted dirt road in the middle of the night. The full moon was shining overhead. At his feet, Kiwi was sitting next to him, looking all around and growling softly. On both sides of the road, were rows of corn, stretching off into the distance. Further up the road, Odd saw a small house, with a small light coming from it. 

"Trickster! Fancy meeting you here," called a man's voice in the cornfield, "come on over and let's have a little fun!"

Kiwi, at hearing the voice, growled louder, the hackles on his back rising.

"Come on in, you've got to see this," the voice called again.

Odd, never the one to turn down a little fun, walked into the corn toward the voice. Behind him, Kiwi followed, growling deeper now and barking lowly, like he was trying to warn Odd.

Odd walked a short ways into the cornfield, and came into a small clearing. In the clearing stood a man. He was tall, wearing jeans and a jeans jacket over a tee shirt. He was standing over something Odd couldn't quite make out. It seemed to squirm and Odd thought he heard soft noises coming from it.

The man spoke, "this is gonna be good. Watch."

With that, the man knelt down before the shape on the ground. Odd didn't see where it came from, but the man suddenly had a large knife in his hand. The moonlight glinted off of the knife blade, giving it a sinister glow. It was an ugly thing, with a gutting hook behind the tip. On one knee, the man started cutting at the object on the ground.

When the man did that, the shape on the ground started writhing again. Now Odd could definitely hear a sound coming from it, but it was still muffled. Odd looked closer, and the shape resolved into something definite.

It was Sissi Delmas.

She was laid out spread-eagle on the ground, and the man was using the knife to cut through the material of her shirt. She was writhing and squirming, trying to get away, but was pinned down by several stakes driven into the ground. Through her.

The stakes looked like old, rusted steel rebar. There was one driven through each of her wrists, just below her hands. Two more were driven between the hamstring tendons of her legs and the ankle bone. If that weren't enough, there were two more stakes driven through the meaty part of her inner thighs, half way between her hips and her knees.

She was trying to scream, but her mouth was filled with some kind of gag. From the way her face looked, the gag was pushed almost half way down her throat. Even so, she was still trying to scream. Odd could see the tears streaming down her face, pleading with him, or anyone, to help her.

The man had now cut through the material of Sissi's shirt, and causally flipped the shreds back. Hooking the gut hook through the front of her bra, he ripped downwards, cutting the bra open, flipping the cups away from her chest, exposing her breasts and leaving a wicked cut on her breastbone.

"What do you think of that, boy? Ain't she great?"

"I think you had better back off before I take the knife and shove it so far up your ass, you'll trim your nose hairs every time you sneeze!" Odd replied coldly, getting ready to back his threat. Kiwi was now loudly growling and barking, hackles fully raised.

"Boy, this is _my_ field. I decide what happens here, not you. Now, you can either join the fun, watch, or take a hike, your choice."

Odd started to move towards the man, but found he couldn't move. Kiwi stayed put too, but was still growling.

The man smirked, then turned back to Sissi. He took the knife, placed the gut hook under her left armpit at the base of her breast, and sank it in.

Sissi screamed, the gag still muffling her sound.

The man then took the knife and ripped it under her breast, following its curve, creating an ugly laceration. When he got the her breastbone, he turned the hook down toward her groin, and ripped again until the wicked hook reached her navel. He then pulled it out. Sissi's screams were louder now, but still muffled due to the gag in her mouth.

With Sissi still writhing, the man dug his fingers into the corner of the flap of skin where he had changed the direction of the knife. He dug in deeper and managed to get a grip on it.

"Well, you can either stand there and watch, join in, or go. Come on, its only Sissi, its not like it was anybody important."

The man yanked at the skin he just grabbed and tore a huge section of it from Sissi's lower chest. This time, gag or no gag, Sissi screamed loud enough for the whole world to hear it.

The man held up the skin he just tore away and leered at Odd, "want a piece?"

Odd again tried to lunge forward, but his feet were still rooted to the ground. No matter how hard he tried, he could not make a move toward the man, only away from him.

Odd bellowed at the man, "I swear before God Almighty, I will make you pay for this!"

"And I swear before the Morning Star Who Was Cast Down that the next time we meet, I'll do the same, if not worse, to you that I'm going to do to her. And believe me, boy, I haven't even had a good start on her yet."

"I'll see you in Hell!"

The man hooked a bloody finger under his shirt. "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt."

The man started laughing, and Odd back away into the cornfield. Kiwi backed away from the scene, never once taking his eyes from the man, never once stopping his growling and barking.

Odd found his way back to the road, Kiwi following him. All the way, he heard the man's laughter, mixing with Sissi's screaming.

"Come on, Kiwi, we'd better get up to that house. I may not be able to do anything about Sissi, but maybe someone up there can!" Odd broke into a run towards the house, Kiwi close behind.

They quickly made it to the house up the road. It was a small, old house, like some shack out of the eighteenth century. Odd for a moment thought the house was run down, but it wasn't, it was just old.

Odd walked around to the front of the house. There, on the front porch, was the oldest black woman he had ever seen. She was looking at him like she was expecting him to show up on her doorstep.

"Come on up and rest a spell. I say, but you've had a rough time of it."

When Kiwi came up to the front porch and saw the woman, he froze.

_Odd, Stop._

Odd froze where he was, in mid step.

Kiwi shimmered, and changed into a coyote.

_Teacher, what is going on here? Why was _that _let out?_

The old woman was only mildly surprised at the appearance of the coyote. She replied, "I wasn't in control of the circumstances surrounding the selection of this template, Trickster. I'll admit its intense, but it does fit the necessary profile."

_Did you see what happened back there? Tell me that wasn't the _real _Elizabeth Delmas back there!_

"Of course not! It wasn't even her dream self. Your charge has to break himself out of some potentially bad thought patterns, and that was one way of beginning the process."

_Are you implying that I am not doing my job?_

"No, no, nothing of the kind! Like I said, I wasn't involved in setting the template for this Lesson. The template is suitable, but it is also very rough and demanding. Chance determined the format being used here. We just caught a bad break, that's all."

_Are you _sure _it was Chance and not something more, Hell-bent?_

"Only the Creator Of All Things is that certain, Trickster, and I certainly am not the Creator. This needs to be done quickly, which is why I've gone along with the template as it is. It is not certain that XANA can be delayed or deflected like we've planned, so we may have to get these children back in the fray sooner than we'd like."

The coyote looked at the old woman for a moment, his gaze focused deep within her. She sat patiently, waiting for him to finish.

_I can't fault what you've said._

Trickster the Coyote, Bringer Of Judgment-In-Mirth, Totem/Guide/Protector of the Divine Madmen, Sacred Clowns, and Wise Fools of Mankind, nodded his head respectfully to Teacher the Light Bringer, Revealer Of Wisdom And Knowledge, Flame of the Refiner's Fire, shimmered again, and changed back into Kiwi the dog.

_I don't like it, but I'll just have to live with it. Good Luck, Teacher._

_Odd, Go._

Odd began moving again, and stepped up on the porch and sat down in the empty rocking chair next to the old woman.

"Look, I just came from down the road and there's this guy..." Odd started saying.

"I know, Odd," the woman replied, "trust me when I tell you that what you saw was a trick, an illusion. Sissi is at home right now, safely asleep."

"Illusion? That was the sickest thing I've ever seen! I couldn't even image that!"

"That's Good," the woman replied, "but what you saw there just now was something buried deep, deep down in the blackest depths of your soul, brought out, magnified almost to infinity, and set before your eyes. Tell me, Odd, do you dislike Sissi that much?"

"No!" Odd retorted, "I may think she's annoying, full of herself, and needs to be taken down a peg or two every now and then..."

"She certainly was 'taken down a peg or two' back there, wasn't she," the woman gazed levelly into Odd's eyes as she spoke.

"Oh," Odd lowered his eyes for a moment, then raised them up and looked squarely in the woman's eyes. "I swear before God Almighty, I will _never_ let anything like that happen to her! I will do all I can keep her safe! I will die myself if need be!"

"God Almighty has heard your vow, Odd Della Robbia, and binds you to it. Break that vow at your peril," the old woman gravely said. She then continued, "and by your vow to Him, this is His Vow to You: as long as she lets you, you will keep her safe. As long as you let her, and she will do it, she will always stand by your side. And, no matter what may come, even death itself, there will always be a way of escape for you and her, should you choose to take it."

Odd could almost feel a chain being bound around him when she said that. Kiwi looked up at him from the ground in front of the porch, his head cocked, like he was listening intently.

"Odd, you were brought here for a reason," the old woman said after a moment, "what you just did will help greatly in the task ahead, but for now, you should make ready. A storm is coming."

"Storm? It may be dark out, but the sky is clear."

"You have some idea what storm I'm talking about. To prepare you, and the others, a task will soon be given to you. You must succeed in this or else all you've fought and suffered for these past few years will be for nothing."

"What do I have to do," Odd asked softly, still shaken by what he saw in the corn and what he just did.

"For now, nothing. But when the time comes, you will have to Stand against a great darkness."

"XANA?"

"No," she replied, "what you will have to face is the hand in the puppet that is XANA. You met him this very night. And even that thing is but a puppet in the hands of another."

"Great, XANA was bad enough, you're telling me there's something worse?"

"Don't worry, Odd. When the time comes, you will have what you need. Now, you'd better get back home. And think what I said about Sissi, now."

At that, Odd disappeared. As he did, the Teacher thought, _Run swift, Prince-Of-A-Thousand-Enemies, run swift._

_Saturday_

Odd awoke with a start and sat bolt upright in his bed.


	6. Choices

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Friday_

Laying in his bed, Ulrich heard the thump of Odd getting into bed. He heard Kiwi rustle around in the chest drawer a bit, then settle down to sleep too. Soon the chainsaw sound of Odd's snoring filled their room, and Ulrich put his ear plugs in.

This week had been worse than waiting at the dentist's office to have a root canal done! He hadn't heard from his parents at all in weeks and it seemed sometimes like they forgot he even existed. Not that he minded that at times.

Then there was the disaster on Lyoko, thank God Aelita wasn't killed then! Since then, the gang had hardly talked to each other, something Ulrich was almost glad of.

_No, that's not true. I wish I could talk to someone, anyone! Even Sissi..._

Sissi had approached Ulrich a couple of times during the week, no doubt trying to either worm her way into his affections, or lord over him about some nonsense or another. But when she drew close, she seemed to sense his mood, and turned away.

_It even might have helped to trade a couple of small barbs with her,_ he thought to himself, and drifted to sleep.

* * *

Ulrich found himself on a dirt road. It was night, but there was a full moon out. On either side of the road were rows and rows of corn. Off in the distance was a small house with a speck of light coming from it. 

Ulrich noticed some movement, and saw a shadow of something draw back into the cornfield. From deep in the back of is mind came a slight glimmer of recognition, so he followed the shape in.

He quickly came into a clearing. There he found two people, a man and a woman. The man was tall, muscular, with brown hair that fell to his shoulders. He was wearing jeans and a tee shirt with a denim jacket over the shirt. The man reminded Ulrich vaguely of a cowboy, for the man was wearing cowboy boots and a belt with a big, shiny belt buckle that cowboys sometimes wore.

The woman must have been the shadow he followed because he recognized her.

_Yumi!_

The Yumi he saw here was a little taller than the Yumi he knew, but her face, hair and build were almost exactly the same. It was like she was a few years older than she was now. She was wearing a wrap-around black dress with short sleeves, a hemline that hit just above the knee, and a neckline that plunged down her front, almost to the belt that held the dress in place. Her face and arms were snow white. It confused Ulrich for a moment until he remembered seeing pictures of geisha girls from Yumi's native Japan. They wore white makeup, and that's what Yumi was wearing. The makeup around her eyes accented them perfectly, the red on her lips made them look like a strawberry, ready to be tasted. There was a black shimmer-like outline that defined the curves of the muscles of her legs, stockings or pantyhose.

Yumi was pressing herself close to the man, almost like she was too afraid to look at him.

Or too ashamed.

The man finally spoke, "Ulrich, hi! Long time no see! So, what do you think?"

"I think I've never laid eyes on you before. What's Yumi doing here?"

"She chose to be here, with me. And let me tell you, it's been great! See how she's matured?"

_More like whipped, to me,_ Ulrich thought to himself.

Before Ulrich could say anything else, the man said, "I hate to be rude, my man, but I'm a little hungry right now. Do you mind? I didn't think so."

With that, he pushed Yumi away. She staggered a step away and cringed.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get to it, bitch!" the man snarled.

Yumi looked at Ulrich, then back at the man. Something passed between the two, and Yumi lowered her eyes from his. Her hands reached down and began untying the belt holding her dress closed.

"Yumi, what are you doing!" Ulrich tried to walk over to her, but found he couldn't move.

Yumi finished undoing her belt, and let her dress slide off of her shoulders. She stood before both of them, naked except for her stockings, in the middle of the clearing.

Ulrich gasped, not just because this was the first time he ever saw her with out any clothes on (except, sometimes, in his dreams), but also because of the tattoos. Her body was covered with the most intricate tattoos he had ever seen. They covered her entire body, from her neck down to her hips. Not only were the tattoos striking, but their subject matter was too.

Men, women, children, animals, all entwined in sexual positions that seemed all but impossible to perform.

Ulrich pulled his gaze to Yumi's face. That face was like stone, unmoving. But her eyes were filled with shame, embarrassment, regret and longing.

"Get a move on, bitch! You're being rude to our guest!"

Yumi snapped her head back to the man at that, then moved quickly. She stepped back to him, knelt down, and began unbuckling his belt.

"Look, maybe I should leave you two alone..."

"Don't worry about that, Ulrich, this won't take a second, and Yumi doesn't mind at all."

Ulrich didn't care, he just wanted to get out. He tried walking back into the cornfield, but found he still couldn't move.

Yumi had unbuckled the man's belt, and was undoing his jeans. The man had his hands on his hips, clearly impatient with her. She got the jeans undone and pulled them down between his legs.

He was naked underneath.

She then put her hands on his hips, covering his hands, and leaned forward into his rising erection, taking it into her mouth.

Ulrich tried to close his eyes, avert his gaze, anything to block out what he was seeing, but he couldn't move.

She had been working at the man's erection for a few minutes, when he growled, "you know what I want, bitch, now do it!"

Yumi pulled back and turned around, facing away from him and towards Ulrich. She spread her legs a little wider, and lowered her face to the ground. She pressed her face into the dirt as if she was trying to burrow underground, then wrapped her arms around her head.

Seemingly satisfied, the man knelt down behind her, and thrust himself forward into her. She grunted once, then was silent.

The man began working his hips back and forth, pulling her towards his thrust, then pushing her back as he withdrew. He continued this for a while. All the time, his face was like that of a man drinking a cup of coffee while reading the daily newspaper.

Soon, he thrust forward, he gave a grunt, pulled her hips back against him, and held her tight. He held her against him for a few seconds as he spasmed, then pushed her away from him so hard that she sprawled upon the ground in front of him.

"You know, the only thing bad about having Chinese is that an hour later, you're hungry again," the man laughed at his joke, then got up and redid his jeans.

Ulrich could not believe what he had just seen. Aside from what just happened, he couldn't believe the callousness the man showed Yumi. A dish rag got more respect than he showed her! Ulrich looked at Yumi again as she was pulling herself up.

Lying face down in the dirt wore away the makeup on her face and arms. The white makeup was not there to enhance her beauty, it was there to cover her secrets.

Her face was black and blue from being beaten. There were bruises on her arms where hands had gripped her too tightly. She had scrapes, rashes of older scrapes, scars. He could even make out bruises on her body that were masked by the tattoos there. Ulrich even thought one or more of her ribs had been broken, and mended badly.

"What's going on here! How could you do that to her! What right..." Ulrich shouted, but the man interrupted.

"Every right, Ulrich! She _chose_ this. When you weren't there for her, she went elsewhere. When you wouldn't take her, I did. She's happier now than she's ever been in her life, right sweetie?"

Yumi almost started to shake her head no, but at a sharp look from the man she quickly nodded her head yes and smiled.

"I just wanted you to see this. Now get on your way to the other one up at the house. Just remember this: I own her, body and soul, for eternity. And the next time we meet, I will own you just as completely, and I'll use you just as thoroughly, for just as long. Now get out of here."

At that, something pushed Ulrich back out into the cornfield. He tried to run back in, but couldn't. The only thing he could do was turn and walk back out to the road. As he did, he heard the _slap!_ of the man's hand as it came down on Yumi, just another day in her life.

Ulrich walked up the road to the little house with a feeling like he had just been kicked in his gut. He was near sick with the things he just witnessed. What sickened him even more than what he saw was the little part of him that enjoyed watching the show. The part that wanted to join in.

Ulrich soon reached the house. It was small, and looked very old, almost ramshackle. He walked around to the front porch, and there, sitting in a rocking chair, was the oldest woman he had ever seen. She was black, with snow white hair. Her wrinkles spoke not of battles lost against the ravages of time, but of honors lavished in service over the years.

"Come on up and rest a spell, Ulrich. I say, but you've had the roughest time of it." She smiled, a toothless smile, but warm, and motioned him to a rocker next to hers.

He stepped up on to the porch, and sat down next to her. She poured him a glass of lemonade, which was in a pitcher on the table next to her chair, "here, drink this, it'll help you get your strength back."

Ulrich took the glass, and took a sip. The lemonade was cold and sweet. But even through the sweetness, a spike of sourness hit his tongue.

"Thank you, ma'am. But just who are you? Where am I? And who was that son of a bitch I left down in the field!"

"To answer you questions in order, I am Abagail Freemantle, but most folks just call me Mother Abagail. And this is my home. And that 'son of a bitch' you referred to is a personification of all of the evil and wickedness in the world."

"Do you know what he's doing down there? Who he's with? How can you allow something like this to go on!" Ulrich shouted.

"Yes, I know what he'd _like_ you to think he's doing, and with who. I promise you, Ulrich, Yumi is safely asleep at home right this instant. Why this is happening is to show you what the consequence of a bad choice can be on someone you care for."

"What choice put Yumi in that situation!" Ulrich spat back.

"The choice you make every time you don't tell her what's in your heart. The choice she made when she decided you didn't care for her. The example that played out below was extremely harsh, harsher than I would have had you see if it were my choice, but still distinctly possible, and becoming more possible each day."

Calmer now, Ulrich took another sip of his drink. "Why is what Yumi and I feel for each other important to you?"

"Partly because you and she are mortals, and I care for all mortals. Partly because you and she play a somewhat larger role in the Great Struggle than most. And also, because I love you both."

"What do you want me to do, ma'am?" Ulrich asked.

"Between you and Yumi, tell her how you feel, good, bad or indifferent. Choose to let her in."

Abagail continued, "the other thing I want you to do is to prepare. Soon, you and you friends will have to fight a great battle. You all will have to Stand against the thing you met down the road tonight."

"What must I do to prepare?" Ulrich asked.

"When the time comes, you will have what you need. You'd best be running on home now, Ulrich."

Ulrich disappeared from the rocking chair.

Sitting there after he left, the old woman thought to herself, _things are starting to get out of hand._

_Saturday_

Ulrich opened his eyes to Odd sitting bolt upright in his bed.


	7. An Initiation

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Friday_

Jeremie closed the book and set it on his desk, next to the keyboard of his computer. He had finished the book Wednesday night, but since then had been flipping back through the book, rereading certain scenes. Some of the parts he reread frightened him with the violence described therein. Other parts almost made him want to weep, for their sadness, or their joy.

Then there were other parts...

There were parts of Jeremie's mind that didn't quite understand what was going on when he read those portions of the story. There were other parts of him that did. And, deep inside, was a small part that seemed to understand _everything_, and longed to participate.

He was really beginning to regret his choice of books to obsess on. He vowed to return it to the library first thing on Monday, and not touch it again until he returned it.

Jeremie took off his glasses, set them on the desk, climbed into his bed, and fell asleep.

* * *

Jeremie was standing on a dirt road in the night. The full moon was shining directly over head. On both sides of the road, were rows of corn, that stretched off into the distance. Up the road from where he was standing was a small house. It was dark except for a small speck of light. 

Jeremie looked around, trying to get his bearings, when he heard something.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

That sound seemed to resonate inside of him. A thrill like a jot of electricity ran down his spine and into his hips and groin in timing with it.

"Ooooohhhhh... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

Again the sensation seared thought him. It almost seemed like parts of his brain were switching off, and other parts were switching _on._

"Oooohhh... Aaaaahhh... Oooohhh... Uuuuggghhh... Uuuggghhh... Uuuggghhh..."

He was totally captured by the sound now. Each note that entered his ears streaked down his spine directly into his groin. It seemed that the sound was picking up, becoming faster, louder. And more familiar.

"Oooohhh... Aaaaahhh... Oooohhh... Uuuuggghhh... Uuuggghhh... Uuuggghhh..."

"Aelita?"

"Uuugghh... Uuugghh... Oooohhh... Oh... Oh... OH! OH! AAAAAHHHHHHH!"

With the last sound, Jeremie's mind exploded. The circuit down his back was a channel of fire, and his groin erupted with heat. Waves and waves of sensation traveled down that path, and his body convulsed with each one. It continued for a few moments, then subsided. There was silence again.

Jeremie stumbled and almost collapsed, like he had been held in a vice. He shook his head to clear it. He heard something in the cornfield, just beyond where he could see. Something compelled him to go look.

He walked a short ways into the corn, and quickly came to a clearing. There was a man and woman in the clearing, lying on the ground. Both of them were naked.

Jeremie tried to back into the corn and leave, but found he couldn't move. He tried to turn away from the scene, to give the two some iota of privacy, but couldn't turn away.

"I'm sorry to intrude on you," he called out the the couple.

The man raised his head up from her groin. He had long brown hair. Something dark was covering his mouth and chin.

"No problem, little man, come closer if you want," he called back to Jeremie.

"No, I really think I need to leave you alone," Jeremie replied.

"So, you don't mind listening, but you don't want to watch. Your choice. But I have to tell you Jeremie, she is the finest piece of ass I've tasted in a long time. And I've got you to thank for it. So, I arranged all of this to initiate you into manhood."

"Initiate me?"

"Sure. Look down."

Jeremie looked down at himself. The pants of his pajamas had a wet stain on them, like he had peed himself. But the stain was not caused by urine.

"You're loaded for bear now, my man. All you got to do is point and shoot."

Jeremie was stunned. Processes in his mind clicked, like tumblers falling into place.

"You sure you don't want to come over and take a turn? I certainly don't mind. Get your first notch on the ol' pistol."

Jeremie's head was spinning.

"No, well, I think I'll have a little more." With that, he lowered his head back down.

Sounds started coming from the woman again. Jeremie thought is was going to be a repeat of what happened a little while ago, but it wasn't.

The woman started screaming. And screaming.

For the first time, Jeremie looked at the woman the man was with. He gagged with what he saw.

The woman was torn open from chest to crotch, like some carcass on a jungle plain somewhere. He could see where ribs had been snapped out so something could get at the soft meat underneath. Her arms looked wrong. They had been broken in several places so it looked like she had twice the number of joints that an arm should have. Her legs looked like a turkey's wishbone that someone tried to snap in two, they were splayed so far apart.

And her face...

"Oh, God, NO!" Jeremie cried.

Her face was so matted with blood and other fluids, he could hardly make out any features. Her eyes were missing, great scratches all around them. A look at her hands showed that she had clawed them out herself. Then, there was her hair...

Her pink hair.

"AELITA!"

Jeremie thought that Aelita surely had been killed by what had been done to her, but that wasn't the case. Her head moved, her arms and legs twitched. Even though her throat was ripped out and her jaw was broken, she began screaming again.

The man raised his head back up, but it was different now. Jeremie's own face, mouth and chin covered with what he knew now was Aelita's blood and gore, looked up and smiled.

"You sure you don't want a taste now?" Jeremie's voice said, "of course, you'll have to settle for sloppy seconds."

Jeremie somehow broke free of the paralysis that held him and ran back into the cornfield. He stumbled when he got back to the road, fell to his hands and knees and vomited. Behind him he could hear the man's voice above Aelita's screaming.

"Don't worry, little man! The next time we meet, I'll do the same to you! And you'll be able to scream just as loud as you want to!"

Jeremie jumped up and ran towards the house on the hill.

When he reached the house, he tripped and fell on to the front porch of the house, then curled up into a ball and started crying.

"OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod!"

The old woman sitting in the rocking chair looked down at the sobbing boy. Quickly, she got up, took the boy into her arms, and sat back down again.

She then started rocking slowly back and forth, stoking Jeremie's hair slowly. From deep within her, a tuneless melody arose. She spoke softly, reassuring him that Aelita was alright, was safely asleep in her bed.

With each stoke of her hand, Jeremie calmed himself. The music and words soothed even more. Presently, Jeremie sobbed one last time, then slowly sat up in the woman's lap.

"What happened? Who are you? What is next?" Jeremie asked, ready to cry again.

"My name is Mother Abagail, and I'm sorry for what happened to you down there," the woman replied.

"Mother Abagail, like in the book?"

"Yes, somewhat like the book. Your choice of 'The Stand' was an unfortunate one, Jeremie. A Healing and a Testing needs to be done to you and your friends, and that selection made the Healing and Testing much harsher than it would be otherwise."

"I didn't know..."

"I know, child. Chance led your eye and guided your hand. If I had known of the change in your life happening tonight, I would have stopped this, necessary or not."

"What happened..."

"Is part of the cycle of life. Boys can have a hard enough time coming to terms with it, and what that thing did down there didn't help any. You've suffered a grievous wound to your heart tonight, Jeremie, one that will be a long time healing, regardless of the outcome of the Test. But I promise you, if you have Faith, True Love will heal you in the end."

Jeremie slid off of the old woman's lap, and stood before her.

"What Test?" he asked.

"You and your friends were broken when XANA escaped," Mother Abagail said, "and you have been feeling the effects of it ever since. It has been set upon you all to defeat XANA, as a way of preparation for battles to come, but now, if something is not done, you will fail."

"But why this?" Jeremie asked, "why, _that_?"

"Each of you boys has something that is preventing you from receiving something that needs to be given to you. This is an attempt to Heal you of that. It was decided that you, Jeremie, would choose the template in which that healing took place. You chose 'The Stand' as the template, and as a result, drew forth a powerful demon, a demon tuned to _adults_."

"I'm, sorry, Mother Abagail, I never realized..."

"I know, child. Like I said, Chance guided your eye and hand, and there's nothing to be done about it now. But you need to listen very carefully to me now, Jeremie, for time is growing short."

"Next Saturday night, you and your friends, and one more will be called forth to do battle with that thing in the cornfield. And, unlike your battles in Lyoko, the losers won't just be de-virtualized, they'll be killed. The stakes will be your lives and souls."

"What can we do to defeat that?" Jeremie asked.

"What else, Stand. You need to head back home now."

With that Jeremie disappeared.

"_Alright! Who_ really _picked this template! What just happened here was totally unnecessary!"_ the Teacher roared to the heavens. She got no answer.

_Saturday_

Jeremie screamed, and woke up. He jumped out of bed and noticed the stain on his pajama pants from his dream. He quickly removed them, rolled the into a ball, then later in the morning found a trashcan well away from the dormitory and threw them away.


	8. A Birthday Necklace

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Saturday_

Sissi returned to her room from her morning shower, still thinking about sickly baby birds and strange old black women. When she got back, she found a note on her bed:

_Mr. Jean-Pierre Delmas Wishes to Inquire_

_If Miss Elizabeth Delmas would care to_

_Join Him for Dinner_

_This Evening at 7 pm._

"Yippieee!"

Every year since she could remember, her father would take her out to dinner for her birthday. Since she was ten, he always wrote her a formal note asking her to join him, like a gentleman calling to court her. Of course, she always accepted. And she tried to look her best for him each time. Because, on this day of all days, he treated her like a lady, not like a child.

She quickly got her cell phone and dialed a number.

"Yes, this is Miss Delmas calling. I would be more than happy to dine with you this evening, sir."

She listened at the response over the phone.

"6:30 pm, in front of the Administration Building. I will certainly be there."

Pause. "Yes. I am looking forward to the evening too."

With that, she hung up.

_I'll have to start getting ready now! What am I going to wear?_

With that thought, Sissi Delmas began the search for the perfect dress.

* * *

Dinner was wonderful. They went to a small Italian restaurant north of the city. Her father said that he hadn't been there in years, and wasn't sure it was still in business until recently. They ate and talked, not exactly as a father would to his little girl, but as a father might talk to his matured daughter. He always did this, on her birthday. She loved it more than the gift he gave her. 

For this night, he was her father, not her principal, not principal, father, mother, brother, in-law or out-law to every kid in the school, but _her__ father_. This one evening, he would set aside whatever care, concern or problem that may be vexing him, and pay attention only to her. And one other.

For he was not only celebrating her reaching another year of life, he was also looking back and remembering his wife, Sissi's mother.

Sissi never knew her mother. She had died around the time that she was born. But her father had showed Sissi old photographs of her, and would always say that she looked so much like her mother that it almost hurt sometimes.

So, each year, he would formally ask his daughter to dinner, like he must have asked her mother those many years ago, and they would dine and talk and laugh, and he would remember.

After dinner, they returned to Kadic and went to the Principal's Residence. Tonight, she would sleep in the guest bedroom there, instead of her dorm room. Staying in the dorms was something she insisted on when they first came to the school. It was bad enough she _was_ the principal's daughter, she had told him, but living in the Principal's Residence would only compound that stigma. Her father didn't like it, but he had agreed.

But tonight was different. It was her birthday. So she stayed with her father. She knew that come the morning, or Monday morning, Jean-Pierre Delmas would slip back into the Principal Suit that Life demanded he wear. But tonight, just for now, it was him, her, and the memory of her mother.

They sat and talked just a little longer. He even let her have a small sip of the wine he was drinking, something he would only do on very special occasions. Then it was 'off to bed now, young lady,' and she retired for the night, leaving him with the memories that, even after all of these years, blessed as they burned.

* * *

Sissi was sitting in front of the old woman's house in the middle of the cornfield. She sat, cross-legged, in the dirt looking down at the shoe box that contained the little bird. It was still in the box, and it still looked sickly. She had no idea what she was supposed to do to help. 

Sissi also noticed something else strange. In her right hand was a very fine silver chain. She held one end of the chain in her hand, and the other end just ran off to the right into the distance. She thought it odd that it was there, but she made no move to get rid of it.

"Hello, Sissi," came a voice. She looked to her right again, and saw someone standing there. If she thought the chain was odd, the person she saw was even odder.

He was about her height, with blond hair with a purple blotch in it. She immediately recognized Odd Della Robbia, but the getup he was wearing was strange even for him!

He was wearing a purple cat costume. His hands were inside clawed gloves, there were what looked like stripes running down his arms, and he even had a tail!

There was one other thing she noticed. Around his neck, and running down to her right hand, was the silver chain.

She couldn't help it, "hello, Odd. Cat got your tongue?"

He laughed back.

"What are you doing in my dream, Odd?" she asked him.

"I've got something to ask you, and it would be better to ask it here, first, rather than in the real world. It's about the chain."

"Yes, I just noticed that it's around your neck. Do you need to be taken for a walk?"

Odd grimaced at that, but replied, "no, last night I, ahh, made a promise to someone about you, and they're holding me to it, but only if you agree."

"And what promise is that?" she asked, and was suddenly given the answer.

The chain in her hand started vibrating. Suddenly she heard in her mind his voice:

"_I will never let anything like that happen to her! I will do all I can keep her safe! I will die myself if need be!"_

She looked at Odd and asked, "keep me safe from what? Never let what happen?"

"Very bad things, Sissi. When I made that vow, I had just seen the worst ugliness a person should ever be made to witness. And I was told that it came from within me."

"You wanted something bad to happen to me?"

"No. But some of the meanness and spite that has been inside of me towards you got magnified and projected in front of my eyes. I didn't like what I saw, so I made that vow in recompense."

"And what do you want me to do? Release you from it? Is that what you want?"

"No. I want you to decide for yourself."

"Decide what?" Sissi was starting to get tired of this.

"To accept my vow. Or to deny it and free me. I would like you to accept it though. I truly fear that what I saw may come true all too soon."

"Well, I don't know about that right now. I still have to figure out what to do with this chick I'm supposed to be taking care of."

Odd knelt down, looking at the chick.

"I don't know, don't baby chicks need worms to eat? That's what mother birds bring to them all the time," he suggested after a moment.

"Well, I guess we could try..."

With that, Odd went the rest of the way to his knees and started scratching in the dirt. The claws on his gloves (hands?) quickly tore a hole into the ground, pulling up big fat, worms. He pulled a couple out of the ground and handed them to Sissi.

"Here, try this," he told her.

Inwardly gagging to herself, Sissi took the wriggling things, and gave one to the bird.

The chick opened its beak wide and gobbled the worm up whole. And, miracle of miracles, it seemed to perk up, get brighter!

She fed the other worm to the chick. It got better!

Now Sissi was on her hands and knees, clawing at the ground with her fingernails, trying to find more worms. She and Odd continued like this for a while, finding worms and feeding the little chick, then scrabbling about for more.

Then, while Sissi was digging, something grabbed her hand. She screamed, and was pulled down into the hole she had just scratched out. It expanded and swallowed her whole, just as the chick had done with the worms.

Sissi struggled, called out for help, but the hole had closed up behind her, encasing her in darkness. Then, she felt something snake itself around her neck and tighten. She tried to get her hands around whatever was strangling her, but her arms weren't responding to her commands. She continued to struggle and finally was able to get her hands up to her throat.

The thing around her neck felt alive. It was warm and it pulsed as it constricted. She tried and tried but couldn't get whatever it was to loosen its grip on her. She tried crying for help, screaming, anything, but no sound came out of her mouth. The thing kept tightening.

The she heard what sounded like muffled words. She couldn't make them out, nor could she identify who was talking, but whoever was talking was getting excited.

Then, she saw it, a little glimmer of light. It became larger, a line of light. Then a small opening. Sissi was starting to fade now, the garrote around her neck finishing its work.

Hands grabbed her. Clawed hands.

Suddenly, she was pulled up out of the ground. Odd had pulled her up and laid her down on the grass. He grabbed the thing strangling her and cut it with a swift flick of his claws. He flung the pieces away as she drank in her first breath of air.

In her mind, she was not hearing Odd asking her if she was alright. The muffled voices she heard while buried were now clearer.

"_I've got the baby! The cord's wrapped around her throat! Scissors!"_

"_BP is 60 over 80 and dropping fast! Pulse 120 and thready!"_

"_Push another liter of Ringers!"_

"_I've got bleeding in here! Get me suction! No! Here!"_

"_BP is 40 over 60! Heartbeat is erratic! She's going into de-fib!"_

"_I've got massive hemorrhaging here!"_

"_We're losing her..."_

_Sunday_

Sissi woke up screaming. She sat bolt upright.

Her father ran into the room. "Sissi, what's the matter?"

Sissi threw herself into her father's arms, crying hysterically.

"Daddy, it was horrible! I was trying to feed my little chick the old woman gave me and I got pulled underground and something was strangling me and Odd pulled me out and..."

Jean-Pierre just held his daughter as she cried out the experience. Presently, she settled down with one last sob, and he let her sit back on her bed.

"Daddy, can I ask you something?"

"Yes, Sissi, you can ask me anything," he replied.

"How did Mother die?"

Jean-Pierre was shocked. He had never held back the fact that her mother had died when she was born. Until today, she had never asked for details.

"Well, you mother died when you were born and..."

"She died having me, didn't she," Sissi asked, a sad look on her face.

"Yes, Sissi, she did," he replied after a moment. There was no avoiding this now.

"Your mother had a rough time while she was carrying you. In the last few months, she was confined to bed for fear that something would happen to you or her otherwise. When the time came for you to be born, we were happy that you both had made it."

"But during the labor, something happened. You started having problems and the doctors got so worried that they decided to perform a cesarean section to get you out."

"What's a 'cesarean section,' daddy?"

"It is a surgical procedure where the doctors cut into a mother's abdomen to remove the baby."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Yes, it can be. And it was, in this case."

Jean-Pierre paused a moment, then continued. "The doctor's removed you from your mother's womb and saved you. But there was a problem. Somehow, she started bleeding inside and the doctors couldn't stop it. She died moments after you were born."

Sissi sat there, the echoes of the voices reverberating through her mind. Then another thought raised itself.

"Daddy, what was wrong with me that they had to do the cesarean section?" Sissi knew what the answer was even before her father confirmed it.

He told her, "they told me that your umbilical cord had wrapped itself around your neck. If they hadn't removed you, you would have strangled to death before you could be born."


	9. Odd Point Of View

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Saturday_

Odd and Ulrich had a very strange conversation about the dreams they had over night.

Odd told Ulrich about the incident with Sissi in the cornfield, all of it, and what happened next at the old woman's.

Ulrich said that he too had been in the cornfield, and at the farmhouse, but wouldn't elaborate on his encounter with either the man in the cornfield, or the old woman.

"It's none of your business, Odd," Ulrich said.

Odd let it go, thinking Ulrich would tell him when, and if he felt like it.

They got up and showered for the day. On the way to the showers, they stopped by Jeremie's room to pick him up, and to ask him about his dreams.

Jeremie's door was unlocked, so they went in.

Jeremie wasn't there. From the way the room looked, he had jumped out of bed, did something and left, in enough of a hurry that he forgot to lock his door.

The boys didn't really think too much about it, because Jeremie was forgetful at times, and would suddenly remember that he had to be somewhere and drop everything to get there.

Odd, looking around the room, noticed a book lying on Jeremie's desk. He went over and looked closer at it.

"The Stand," By Stephen King.

"Whoa, Ulrich, look at this! Einstein is expanding his reading list!"

Ulrich looked at the book and replied, "I never thought Jeremie was into that kind of thing. And even if he was, Stephen King? Jeremie's been known to gag if the beef is too rare in the cafeteria."

"Well, maybe he's growing up," Odd said, and put the book back on the desk.

The both walked out, and went to take their showers.

* * *

The rest of the morning, the two spent in a pick-up game of soccer at the local park. The running, passing and kicking took their minds off of the dreams of the night before. 

At lunchtime, they were walking into the cafeteria when Jeremie burst out the door, ran between them and away.

"What the heck was that all about?" Odd asked.

"The beef's too rare, probably," Ulrich replied. They both shrugged their shoulders and went in to eat.

* * *

Ulrich had gone off on his own after lunch, and had not said where. Like he really needed to. 

"Off to get your Yumi fix, eh," Odd had yelled to him. Ulrich just flipped Odd The Finger in reply and ran off.

The afternoon was boring, except when he ran into Aelita. She was looking for Jeremie.

"We saw him running out of the cafeteria at lunch today, and that's the only time we've seen him," he told Aelita.

"It's not like Jeremie to be gone so long. I mean, when was the last time you saw him before today?"

"Last week, when we..." Odd really couldn't finish.

"None of us have really been together since then, have we," Aelita replied, "Odd, there's something wrong. I don't know what it is, but I'm becoming really afraid."

"Look Aelita, what happened last week was rough on all of us. You almost died, XANA escaped, and it looks like whatever comes next is going to be worse than anything we've ever seen 'til now. When stuff like this happens, you can't help but pull away, for a little while."

"But for this long?"

"I don't know, I've never had something like this happen to me before." On that down note, Odd left.

That evening, Odd settled down to sleep, alone. Ulrich had not returned from wherever he went this afternoon.

* * *

Odd was standing in the yard of the old woman's house. He half expected to wind up there again, but didn't expect to see Sissi Delmas sitting on the ground, fussing with something in a shoe box. 

Another thing he noticed. He was garbed like he was when he was fighting in Lyoko. He kind of wondered if his Laser Arrows would work here like they did there. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to find out.

The other thing he noticed was the silver chain around his neck. One end was formed into a loop around his neck, the other ran down and was in Sissi's right hand.

He knew what he needed to do, so he got to it.

He spoke to her, telling her why he thought he was here with her, but she was more concerned about whatever was in the box than what he was saying. Kneeling down, he abandoned his former course of action, and tried a new one. He looked in the shoe box.

There was a little chick in the box. It was a reddish orange, and it almost glowed. But, Sissi was right, there was something wrong with it, it looked about ready to die. There was something else about the chick. For some reason, it seemed familiar to him.

"I don't know, don't baby chicks need worms to eat? That's what mother birds bring to them all the time," he said to her.

"Well, I guess we could try..." Sissi replied. With that, Odd began to dig.

The claws on his gloved hands made perfect digging tools. After two swipes, he had dug down enough to uncover two big, fat, worms. He plucked them out of the ground and handed them to her.

She took the worms and fed them to the chick. That seemed to perk the chick right up and it actually looked like it was glowing brighter. Sissi, a bright smile on her face at the turn of events, the turned around and began digging in the dirt herself. Odd did the same.

After a little bit of digging up worms and feeding them to the chick, Odd heard Sissi scream. He turned to her just as she was pulled into a great hole that opened up in the ground. As soon has she had vanished in the hole, it closed up.

Odd jumped over to where Sissi just was, looking about for some indication of where she was. Something finally told him, _there_, and he began tearing the ground away. He quickly came to where she was buried, and pulled her out.

She had some kind of huge worm wrapped around her neck, and it was strangling her. With his claws, Odd cut away the thing, throwing the pieces off to the side. Her face was purple/blue from lack of air, but she was breathing.

"Sissi, are you alright? Sissi? Sissi, answer me!"

She was looking at Odd, but it was like he wasn't there, or she couldn't hear him. Her eyes darted about, like she was trying to look at something, something that wasn't there.

Then she disappeared.

Odd was on his hands and knees on the ground, alone, in front of the old woman's shack.

_What just happened? I had better make sure she's okay when I wake up,_ Odd thought to himself just before he disappeared.


	10. A Trap Sprung

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Saturday_

Jeremie spent the day avoiding his friends and his shame. He wandered around the Kadic campus, barely registering the world around him. In his mind, the images from his dream haunted him.

Even thinking about Mother Abagail didn't help. For she revealed the the real cause of his anguish. He had chosen this. He let _that_ out. _He_ would be the one responsible for their deaths and damnation and worse.

And the demon inside him roared with laughter.

Around lunch time, he could no longer ignore his body's calling for some kind of sustenance. He went to the school cafeteria to eat.

He walked in, got a tray, and proceeded down the serving line. Looking at the selections, Jeremie noticed something strange.

The food was different.

Instead of plates of jello, vegetables and the like, there were other things. Bits and pieces of body parts.

On one plate was an eye. Another an ear. One of the bowls looked like brains had been scooped into them.

Jeremie just moved down the line, taking nothing.

Rosa, the cafeteria worker, scooped out something and glopped it onto Jeremie's plate.

It was a woman's breast. Jeremie froze.

"What is it? Would you like more?" she asked him.

Jeremie screamed, dropped his tray, and ran out of the cafeteria. When he ran out the door, he ran straight through Odd and Ulrich, who were just coming in. He never saw them.

Jeremie ran as fast as he could back to his room. When he got there, he slammed the door shut and jumped into his bed, throwing the sheets over himself, trying to wedge himself between the bed and the wall. He laid there, sobbing, until he fell asleep.

_Sunday_

Jeremie woke early. It was still dark outside. He rose, like a puppet on a string, and went to the showers.

There he showered, but in his mind, he was being drenched in blood, Aelita's blood. He moaned when he saw his reflection in the bathroom mirror. To his eyes, he was covered in blood and little bits of gore all over his body.

And in his hands, tufts of pink hair.

He never bothered redressing. Something made him pick his clothes up and carry them. He walked back to his room, naked, carrying his clothes, one of the living dead. When he got there, he shut the door, threw the clothes in a pile on the floor, and returned to his prison.

After a while, a dark oily cloud emanated from the book on Jeremie's desk. It resolved itself into a somewhat humanoid shape, and regarded the sleeping boy.

_Have I not done well, Master?_ it thought.

_Yes, you have, my puppet,_ came the reply, _I am well pleased with you, XANA._

The demon and his puppet both laughed.


	11. Binding Ties

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Sunday_

Odd woke up and jumped out of bed. He looked over at Ulrich's bed, and saw the boy laying asleep there. Sometime during the night, Ulrich finally made it back to their room. But Odd couldn't afford to spend any time now to find out what Ulrich was up to yesterday. The sun was just coming up and he had no time to waste. He quickly showered and dressed, then went out searching for Sissi.

Odd found her walking out of the Principal's Residence with her father. They looked dressed up, like they were going out to a party or something like that.

"Sissi!" Odd called out to her.

Sissi turned his way when she heard him call, and startled briefly. She then turned to her father and said something to him, then ran to meet him halfway.

"Odd!"

"Sissi!"

When they met, he grabbed her by her shoulders and looked her over, as if he were checking her over for any injury or damage.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, now," she replied, "I, I want to thank you saving me. I don't think that I would be here now if you hadn't done what you did."

"Look, I've got some weirdness going on in my life right now, and somehow you got pulled into it, and we really need to talk, in the here and now. Can you?"

Sissi shook her head, "no, Daddy and I are going to church. It's a special day for us and we need to go. And given what you just said, it might even be more important now than it would any other year."

Odd was surprised that Sissi even knew where the church was, let alone let herself be seen there. As if Odd were anybody to sit in judgment in that area.

But, he said, "as soon as you can get back and get free, we need to talk." He patted her shoulder and let her go.

"Yes, we do," she said as she left, "and hopefully you won't be wearing that purple cat suit when we do!"

That afternoon, Sissi returned to her dorm room. Her father had asked her to stay for another evening but she politely declined. From the way her father looked after the service today, the Principal Suit was creeping back onto him, and the arrival of Mr. Hopper only confirmed her suspicions.

After she deposited her things on her bed, she went to look for Odd. She opened her door to leave just as Odd was starting to knock on it.

"Ah, hi," Odd said.

"Hi," Sissi replied.

They walked out of the dorm building together towards the woods. Just a little ways in, they came to a park bench and sat down.

Sissi started, "okay, Odd. What's going on here? What were you doing in my dreams last night? Do you know anything about the dream I had the night before? What is it?"

"I honestly don't know, Sissi. Nothing like this has ever happened to me in my life. Now, I'll admit that my life's been a little strange for a couple of years, but nothing like..."

"Does this have something to do with you and Ulrich and the rest of your gang?"

"Yes, I think it does. Ulrich had a similar experience to mine on Friday night. I'm assuming you met the man in the cornfield and the old woman?"

"I met Mother Abagail, if that's who you're talking about. I never met a man. But a man's voice coming from the cornfield did scare me when I was on the road to her house."

"That man is something you want to stay well away from, if possible," Odd told her emphatically. He then continued, "anyway, the old woman, Mother Abagail, you said? Well, she told me that there was a storm coming. And she told Ulrich that we would be fighting that man in the cornfield again and soon. If you've met the old woman, then you're mixed up in this with the rest of us somehow."

"I don't want to be mixed up in anything! I want things to go back the way they were! I'm not ready for anything like this!" Tears started to form in Sissi's eyes as the panic rose in her.

Odd took her hands in his. "Sissi, in the dream I meant what I said. I swore to keep you safe and not let anything happen to you. And there's something else I wanted to tell you in the light of day."

He paused a moment, the continued, "I'm sorry for the way I've treated you these years. It was childish and I regret it. Please forgive me."

"Is this so I will set you free of your vow?" she asked him.

"Whether you free me, keep me bound, or do nothing at all doesn't matter. If you tell me to bug off and never have anything to do with me ever again, I will still keep my pledge. Even if you hate me forever, I will keep you as safe as I can for as long as I can. I scared myself when I saw what I saw, and that, along with a boy's arrogant foolishness, made me take that vow. But here and now, before you, God and Everybody, it seems like the most sensible thing I've ever done, or will ever do, in my life."

Sissi stared at Odd, as if this were the first time she ever saw him. The entire time he had spoken to her, he had held her hands in his. At some point, he had slid off of the bench they were sitting on, and was kneeling on one knee before her.

"I do," she simply told him.

In that moment, there was a _click!_ and it seemed that something settled down on Elizabeth Delmas. I wasn't like a chain, it wasn't like a collar. It was more like a blanket that you wrapped up in on a cold winter's night, one that made the cold wonderful.

In that moment, she knew she would be spending the rest of her life with the man kneeling in front of her. And if what happened the last two nights and today were any indication, it was going to be a wild ride.

A smile lit his face, bright as the rising sun in the morning. She smiled back, and they both got up and walked on into the forest. It was time for Odd to explain Everything.

What she learned that afternoon rocked her. She thought it was going to be a wild ride before he told her anything, and now she knew more of it, she realized that wild just didn't cover it.

But how was she going to explain it all to Daddy?


	12. Lost

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Saturday_

After flipping off Odd after lunch, Ulrich went out to get his 'Yumi fix.'

He ran the few blocks between Kadic and her house. He turned the corner just before her house, anxious to see her, to tell her, at least a little, how he felt.

As he rounded the corner, he stopped. There she was! She had her back to him, and was talking to someone.

William Dunbar, one of Yumi's classmates.

From his point of view, Yumi and William were standing very close together. Too, close, in Ulrich's mind.

They were having a conversation of some kind. William had a hand on Yumi's shoulder, looking like he was about to draw her into his embrace.

_Again!_ Ulrich raged in his mind. _She did it to me again!_

Ulrich turned away and ran, not caring where he went. After a bit, he stopped, winded, then went on at a walk.

He wandered, not bothering to notice where he was going. Familiar places changed to unfamiliar. Nice changed to upscale, then back to nice, then downscale, then run down.

He walked, just walked, for hours. When he finally became aware of his surroundings again, he was in a part of town he had never been in before.

It was an old neighborhood, one with old bars and clubs up and down the street. The sun was setting, and the buildings started changing from run down to ominous.

As Ulrich walked down the street, he saw the storefronts. They were advertising _Girls! Lovely and Lusty! Three shows every night! Watch What Bambi And Rita Do Together!_

In front of the clubs, there stood men calling to everyone passing by to come inside for the night's entertainment. Each man was trying to outdo the other hawkers on the street, making each claim more outrageous the the previous one.

And then there were the women.

There were women of every shape, size and color imaginable. The all were in various stages of dress, or undress, standing on corners, against buildings, in alley ways. They too were calling out to the passers by on the street, promising them The Time Of Their Lives. Dark shadows further back in some of the alleys showed some of the women making good on that promise.

Ulrich wasn't spared their charms, either. More than a few offered to make his First Time One To Remember. And then they would laugh as he stumbled on, picking up his pace.

As he went on, Ulrich came across something that caused him to stop. There, just down the sidewalk from him, was Yumi!

_No, it can't be her! I left her at her home!_

He looked closer and found that it wasn't Yumi after all. But it could have been her twin sister.

The woman was bent over, talking to someone in a car parked in front of her. She was dressed exactly as Yumi had been in his dream last night. The woman even had white makeup on her face and arms like he had dreamed. As he watched, the woman ended her conversation with the occupant of the car and moved on. The car drove away.

She had not gone two steps when a man stepped out of the shadows, grabbing her. She was startled, but acted like she knew the man. They started talking back and forth. He was acting angry over something, and she was cowering like she was in trouble. He finally let her go, gave her a backhanded _smack!_ in the face, knocking her down, and walked off.

Ulrich stood there, frozen, as the scene unfolded. The man walked right by him as he left the woman. Noticing Ulrich, the man gave him a little self-satisfied smirk as he walked past. Ulrich recognized the man.

It was the man in the cornfield.

Ulrich turned and ran. Ran past the man, past the prostitutes, past the strip clubs and bars. Into the darkness.

He ran for a while, then stopped, thinking he was far enough away. He then looked around him again, and realized he was totally lost.

He had never felt so lost and alone in his life.

He just stood there, looking slowly all around him, hoping that something would look familiar to him. That there was something that could lead him to safety.

"You look like you're lost," someone said to him. Ulrich jumped.

There, off to his left, was an old woman, sitting on her front porch.

Ulrich looked at the woman. He could swear she looked familiar somehow, but couldn't quite place her.

"You've got a phone with you, don't you?" the woman asked him.

_Of course!_

"If you're lost, call someone and have them pick you up. There's the street signs right there," she said, pointing at the signs on the light post at the corners, "they shouldn't have any trouble at all finding you."

Ulrich turned to the woman and started to say something, but she continued before he say a word, "I know you're scared, boy. I've been right where you're at right now, and I was plenty scared myself. But I always had someone I could call, day or night, to come help me when I needed it. Now you just go on and call and get someone to come get you. I'll sit right here and make sure nothing happens 'til they come and pick you up."

Ulrich reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed the only number he could think of, Yumi's. Her voice answering was the sweetest sound he ever heard.

A half hour later, Mrs. Ishiyama pulled up, with Yumi sitting in the back seat. He got in back with her, thanked Mrs. Ishiyama for coming to get him, and they drove off.

On the drive back to the school, Ulrich told Yumi everything. He spoke softly and low, so Yumi's mother couldn't hear what he said. By the time he was done, he was almost in tears, for fear of what Yumi would say.

Yumi didn't say anything. She just wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. If her mother noticed anything, she kept it to herself.

Mrs. Ishiyama did notice, however. Without saying a word, she altered her course so they wound up taking the long way back to the school.

Yumi held Ulrich as the dam of his emotions began to break. She held him as he softly started sobbing in her arms. She held him until they finally reached the front gates of the school.

She got out with him and used her sleeve to dry his eyes. She gave him one last hug, kissing his cheek as she did, and whispered in his ear that they would talk more later.

Ulrich, after watching Yumi get back into the car and drive off into the night, turned and walked back to the dormitory, and went to bed.

* * *

That night, Yumi dreamed of standing before the gates of Kadic Academy. They were locked, and Ulrich was behind them, holding the key. She called to him, begging him to open the gate, that this was the last one, then they could always be together. Ulrich just stood there. Then, as Yumi watched, the man from the cornfield came up and started talking to Ulrich. 

Ulrich, in the meantime, dreamed of walking down the street of bars and clubs again, but it was different this time. This time, it was _his_ street. He ran everything here. The people walking down the street nodded respectfully at him. Some would stop and ask him something, and he would direct them to a girl or boy that would provide the necessary services. He stopped at one point when Sissi Delmas called to him, wanting to spend a little time with him. He told her, later on at his place, and walked on. He finally found the one he was looking for, and confronted her. Yumi had been falling behind on her quota of late, and needed a talking to. She cowered when he found her, and he told her to get over to his place, now, so they could work the situation out. As she ran off, he thought to himself, _Yumi and Sissi in one night. Maybe together. It had possibilities..._


	13. Karma

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Sunday_

It was Sunday afternoon before Yumi could see Ulrich again.

When they got home last night, Yumi's father started in about her and her mother just leaving in the middle of the night with no warning or explanation, then showing back up like they didn't have a care in the world.

Yumi left her mother to deflect her father's inquiries and went to bed.

Sunday morning was a blur. She had slept in, and when she did wake up, the rest of the family was bustling about. Her father was busy talking on the telephone. Her mother was doing the laundry, and had even drafted her brother, Hiroki, to help.

She was able to duck out of the house before her mother could enlist her aid, and made her way to the school.

When Ulrich told her about how he wound up lost, she laughed.

"If you had stayed five seconds longer, you would have seen what really happened," she told him.

William _had_ tried to kiss Yumi yesterday. What he wound up kissing was the upper cut she launched at his chin the second he started pulling her close. Her connection to his chin was so solid, it lifted him up off of the ground and threw him back three feet!

She then told him in no uncertain terms that if he ever tried anything like that again, she would kick his balls so far up into him that he would spit them out of his mouth!

Ulrich winced at the comment, but laughed as well. He also apologized again for being stupid. She smiled back and said if he apologized every time he was stupid, he wouldn't do anything but apologize.

Ulrich also told her more about his dream Friday night. He had told her a little in the car last night, but today he elaborated a little more. She paled a little when he told parts of it. Ulrich then told her more about his adventure in the red light district last night, about the woman who looked like Yumi, and the man who looked like the man in the cornfield. That made her even more pale.

The talked on into the early evening about the strange things taking place. Then, with the moon coming up, Ulrich walked Yumi home.

_Monday_

The bombshell dropped when Yumi came down to breakfast the next morning. Her father announced that he had spoken to his sister in Tokyo yesterday and arranged for Yumi to fly there for a few weeks. She would be leaving next Monday.

Yumi politely declined to go. Her father insisted.

Yumi asked to go another time. Her father said no.

Yumi told her father she wasn't going. Her father told her she was.

She shouted that he could not send her anywhere she did not want to go. He shouted back that he surely could, he would, and he did.

She screamed that she would die before she was forced to do something like that against her will, and ran up to her bedroom. Her father shouted that the reason why he was sending her back was to get her away from these 'barbaric' influences, and back to a more 'civilized' society, where young women still respected the sacrifices their fathers made for them.

Yumi never heard that last part. She slammed the door to her bedroom and threw herself on the bed, crying.

She was still crying into her pillow when her mother softly knocked on her door, and let herself in.

"Yumi, you need to reconcile yourself to the fact that you are going to visit your Auntie," her mother started.

"But, why? Why now? I know I've been a pain for the last week but, sending me home won't change that, it'll make it worse!"

"_Karma_," her mother replied.

Yumi suddenly sat up in her bed, "_Karma? Karma?_ My father is about to tear my life apart like used tissue paper and you give me this _karma_ bullshit..."

_Slap!_

Yumi was knocked back down onto the bed when her mother slapped her face. She stared back up at her mother.

"You, you've never done anything like that before..."

Her mother, still calm, sat down on the edge of Yumi's bed and replied, "An American man once told me that the way to teach a mule something was to first hit it on the head with a club, in order to get its attention. Now that I have your attention, let me explain _karma_ to you."

"A few months back, I had a dream. In that dream you were freezing to death under a fallen tree at that school. Your husband was doing everything in his power to save you, but to no avail. As I watched, you and he almost froze to death before the whole scene was erased like writing on a blackboard."

Yumi stared at her mother, dumbfounded.

"Another time I had a dream that you had died in a strange place, and in such a way that even the memory of you was destroyed. It was only through the sacrifice of another that you were saved and returned to me."

Yumi sat up and continued staring at her mother.

"Another time, I saw your husband literally place himself between my children, my husband and myself, to save us from an abomination that I can barely imagine exists. I saw him fight, and ultimately fall. I also saw you rush to his side, to die with him when the thing next struck."

"Almost every night I have similar dreams. Almost every day I wonder if it will be the last time ever see you when you leave for that school. I dread laying down to sleep, for fear of what dreams may come."

Her mother took Yumi's hands inter her own.

"And then, Saturday night, I saw my daughter with her husband, sitting in the back seat of my car. She was comforting him after a battle that he had nearly lost. And this was no dream, Yumi. It was _karma._ My _karma._"

"It is my _karma_ to see these things, to know that that boy _is_ your husband. That you and he will one day leave, and I may never see you again. That you and he will do great things together. At times, I can almost see your children, and the generations that will flow from them."

"It is your father's _karma_ to try and keep you safe, to keep you his precious little girl. It also his _karma_ to fail, as every father ultimately does."

"And it is _your karma_, Yumi, to do these things that you do. Ulrich is your _karma_. Nothing will change that."

"And so is your going to Japan. Nothing will change that. You can only bow and accept it."

Yumi could only stare at her mother. _She knew? Even with the time reversals, she knew?_

The only thing she could do is nod her acquiescence. As her mother left her room, Yumi got out her cell phone and called Ulrich, to give him the bad news.


	14. Right And Time

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Tuesday_

Aelita was concerned. She had not seen Jeremie at all in the last few days, and the last time any of the others claimed they saw him was Saturday, four days ago!

She had looked everywhere for him, all around the campus, the factory, the woods, the Hermitage, everywhere she could think of. But there was no sign of Jeremie.

Even her dreams were filled with her, calling out for Jeremie, frantically running here and there. All the while clutching the seed that the old woman gave her what seemed like an eternity ago.

She tried to speak with Ulrich about the situation, but he was unreachable, unresponsive.

Yumi had called him on Monday to tell him that her father was sending her back to Japan to spend a few weeks with her aunt. Yumi had tried talking him out of the trip, but he was adamant. She was leaving next Monday.

Ulrich didn't take it well, to say the least.

Aelita threw up her hands in defeat, and walked away from Ulrich.

Odd was nowhere to be found. When Aelita did once see him, he was with Sissi Delmas, of all people, talking intently.

Several times during the day, she tried to either go to Principal Delmas' office and tell him about Jeremie, or to call the police herself. Something always stopped her, however.

By the time she went to sleep that night, she was worried sick for him.

* * *

"Wake up, child, time is short," a woman's voice said to her. 

Aelita opened her eyes and saw Mother Abagail standing by her bed.

"We've got trouble and we gotta move fast," Mother Abagail said, and continued before Aelita could say anything, "Jeremie's in trouble and if we don't get to him fast, we'll lose him."

At that, Aelita threw back her covers and jumped out of bed.

"Where is he!" she said, rushing around, looking for clothes to change into.

"No time for that, we've got to go now!"

Aelita and the old woman left her room, heading for the Boy's Dormitory level. Even though the hallway was empty, it seemed to Aelita like the hallway was filled with people. Serious people. Dangerous people.

"Don't worry about them, child," Mother Abagail reassured her, "that's just the Host, making sure we get there in time."

They arrived on the Boy's dorm level, and went straight to Jeremie's door. Aelita went to knock, but Mother Abagail, just opened the door. They walked in.

There was Jeremie lying on his bed. He was curled up in a fetal position, facing the wall. Every now and then, he whimpered or moaned.

"Child, this is more serious than I thought. That demon got a hold of him somehow, and won't let go. You have to act quickly, or we'll lose him."

"What can I do, Mother," Aelita asked.

"Deep in your heart, you know what to do," Mother Abagail replied, "but I must warn you. Guard yourself closely. You must walk a fine line tonight to save him. A misstep either way could lose you both. Be careful." With that, Mother Abagail disappeared.

Aelita stood there, alone. _I know what to do?_

Just then, Jeremie moaned again. This time she thought she heard what he said.

"Aelita... nooo... please... nooo..."

She stood there, and saw his suffering. In his dreams, somewhere, something was happening to her that he couldn't stop. His moan was one of defeat and despair.

Aelita took a deep breath. She wasn't prepared for this. She wished she didn't have to. She understood now what Mother Abagail meant when she had warned her.

Aelita crawled into bed with Jeremie.

He had been lying in the bed for days, sweat and more had soaked him and there was a sheen of it on his skin. She tried not to recoil when she discovered that Jeremie was naked. She settled herself against him, molding herself into his back. She then wrapped her arm around him, holding him close, and began stroking his cheek.

"It's okay, Jeremie, I'm fine. I'm right here with you. I'm safe," she whispered into his ear.

He still laid there, rigid in his torment. She continued speaking softly into his ear that everything was alright, she was safe, that everything was okay.

* * *

Outside of Jeremie's room, footsteps echoed on the floor. Jim Moralés patrolled the corridors this evening, making sure everything was secure and no one was up to any monkey business. Especially Ulrich and his bunch. 

Something caused his eye to move to Jeremie Belpois' door.

_Something's not right there. I'd better check it out,_ he thought to himself.

But when he turned to the door, he saw a large coyote sitting before it.

_You don't need to go in there, Jim_, the coyote thought to Jim, while waiving its forepaw.

"Now, I don't really need to go in there, do I," Jim said to no one in particular.

_Everything is alright,_ the coyote thought again, again waiving its paw.

"Everything's alright, I'm just being jittery," Jim said again to no one in particular.

_Why don't you go on back to your room and get some sleep,_ the coyote thought to Jim, again waiving its paw.

"I think I'll just head on down to bed. My mind is just playing tricks on me," Jim said to himself.

_You just do that, Jim. And don't worry about remembering any of this, either,_ the coyote said lastly, waiving his paw.

Jim didn't say a word as he walked away, he just waived his hand in the air and went to bed.

* * *

Inside Jeremie's room, the battle raged on. 

Jeremie was still trapped inside the evil dream that held him. Aelita was still laying next to him, trying to bring him back.

She shifted herself up, so that Jeremie's head was pressed against her chest. She curled herself over him, and tried to roll him over. He seemed to fight at first, but after a moment, he relaxed and let her move him.

All the while, she whispered in his ear.

With him turned around now, she placed his head so that his ear was pressed to her heart. Then she did the one thing she thought she could never do at that moment.

She relaxed.

During the entire time, she was tensed up, afraid of being caught in his bed with him in his condition, afraid that Jeremie wouldn't make it, that she would lose him. Now, she forced herself to relax, to slow her racing heart down. She forced herself to hold back the growing despair in her mind. To soften her arms, her legs, her body.

She forced herself to hum, softly.

The melody came from somewhere deep inside of her. There were no words, she had never heard it before. But it still came.

Something told Aelita to keep it low, keep it in her chest. So Jeremie could feel it as well as hear it.

All the while, she kept stroking his head gently.

Finally, it seemed like something broke in Jeremie, and he relaxed and melted in to her.

After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Aelita?"

"It's alright, Jeremie. I'm here. It's okay. Go back to sleep. Everything will be better in the morning," she whispered back to him.

* * *

Jeremie swam in the darkness. It seemed all around him was blood and gore. One moment, Aelita would be laying next to him in his bed. The next, he would leap upon her like some animal, tearing at her clothes, and then her flesh. Her screams only seemed to excite him into tearing into her more, devouring her more. 

And each time, the demon in him laughed.

It seemed to go on and on, a never ending sequence of events. Aelita. The tearing, The screams. The ripping. The laughter.

But somewhere, far off it seemed, a small voice whispered to him.

_It's all right. I'm okay. It's only a dream. Everything is alright._

Jeremie could hardly hear it at first, but it seemed to grow. And he heard something else. From somewhere, maybe the same place the whispering came from, a drum started sounding.

_Dum-dum. Dum-dum. Dum-dum._

It was a slow, rhythmic beat. It too seemed to come from far away, and yet it was all around him.

He stopped his savaging. Now it seemed like his vision of Aelita was stroking his cheek, talking to him, telling him it was okay, that she was alright, that it was a dream.

He then started hearing a low melody. It intermingled with the drum that was sounding all around him. The music calmed him, soothed him.

The demon inside him raged its defiance, and vanished.

His vision of Aelita softly stroked his head as she slowly faded away.

Consciousness slowly came to him. The first thing that registered in his mind was her scent.

She smelled the way angels should smell.

For a moment, all he did was draw the scent of her into him, etching it indelibly into his mind. Then, slowly, he opened his eyes.

Even in the dark room, he realized that Aelita was lying beside him in his bed. She had her arm underneath his head, and had his head cradled against her chest. It was soft, warm, wonderful.

"Aelita?" he started to say.

"It's alright, Jeremie. I'm here. It's okay. Go back to sleep. Everything will be better in the morning," she whispered back to him.

He closed his eyes, relaxed into her again and went back to sleep.

* * *

As she lay there, relaxed, in Jeremie's bed, with Jeremie pressed close to her, Aelita thought to herself, _this is so right. I don't want to ever leave him, I want more._

_It is Right, child, but is not Time,_ came Mother Abagail's voice to her, _I told you that you must walk a fine line tonight, and you cannot afford to step off of it. This was necessary, but it is too soon for both you and him, especially after what he has just been through._

_Should I leave then? _Aelita thought.

_No, you may have this time to make sure he recovers, _ Mother Abagail's voice came back, _but you must be gone before he wakes in the morning. And be mindful now, of both him and yourself!_

_I will, Mother,_ Aelita replied, as she drifted off to sleep.

_Wednesday_

Aelita managed to wake up before Jeremie did the next morning. She tried to carefully remove herself from his bed without waking him, but when she moved, he only hugged her closer to him. Aelita almost panicked, but calmed herself, and softly whispered to him to let her up, that she wasn't going far. He then relaxed enough that she was able to get up and leave. As she turned to leave the room, she thought to herself, _Jeremie, this is Right. And someday, soon I pray, it will be Time._


	15. Recovery

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Wednesday_

Aelita slipped out of Jeremie's room and ran down to Odd and Ulrich's room. She pounded on the door, calling to them for help. Odd answered the door.

"Quick, I've found Jeremie and he's in trouble!" Aelita shouted as she grabbed Odd and pulled him into the hall.

Ulrich had seen her grab Odd, so he pulled out his earplugs and followed the to Jeremie.

They got to the room and opened the door.

The first thing that hit them was the smell. It was a sour, locker room smell, the smell of month old dirty socks and jockstraps. They entered and Odd went over to the window and opened it up while Ulrich looked at Jeremie.

Jeremie looked like he had been drenched in sweat. He was lying on his stomach, covered for the most part by his sheets. Ulrich could tell instantly that Jeremie didn't have any clothes on underneath. He turned to Aelita to tell her something, but stopped.

Aelita was soaked all up and down her front. Her hair was messed up like she just got up, and her face had a lot more worry on it that he thought it should from having just found Jeremie. Odd had turned back to the scene too, and was looking at Aelita strangely.

"Aelita, is there, ahh, anything you want to tell us?"

She told them, "I'll explain everything later, but now we have to help Jeremie!"

"Okay then," Ulrich said at last, "you run get the nurse, Odd and I will get him to the bathroom."

"No," Aelita said, "not the nurse. If she sees him, he'll be in the hospital and that may be the worse thing in the world for him right now."

Ulrich and Odd were trying to wake Jeremie up, trying to pick him up to get him to the bathroom without exposing himself.

"Maybe the hospital is the place he needs to be right now," Ulrich said.

"You didn't seem that concerned when I asked you about him yesterday," Aelita sharply replied, "I'm going to get him something from the cafeteria. He hasn't had anything in days."

Odd spoke up, "Get Sissi to go with you. Tell her 'Odd says it's urgent'."

Aelita and Ulrich gave Odd a long look, then Aelita ran off after Sissi.

Odd and Ulrich wrestled Jeremie into the boy's bathroom and got him into a shower stall. The sat him down and turned on the cold water.

Jeremie startled awake.

"Oh, God, that's COLD!" he hollered, "Turn it off!"

They warmed up the water a little bit, and started soaping Jeremie down. After about a minuted, Jeremie finally decided he had had enough, pushed the boys back, and tried to stand up. He immediately fell back down.

Ulrich and Odd helped him to stand, and Jeremie finished washing himself off.

After the shower, Jeremie sat down on a bench in the bathroom, barely able to sit upright. Odd ran back to Jeremie's room to get him some clothes. Ulrich sat next to Jeremie and asked him what had happened.

"The last thing I remember is running out of the cafeteria. They were serving body parts," Jeremie replied, "I just ran back to my room and that was it."

"I know the food ain't that great, Jeremie, but body parts?" Ulrich said.

Just then Odd returned with clothes for Jeremie. He also informed them that Sissi had arrived with bread and orange juice for Jeremie. When Aelita came to her room and told her what was going on, she told Aelita that she would got down to the cafeteria and that Aelita should get a shower herself.

Ulrich was still processing this new data, and its ramifications, while Jeremie dressed.

They finally got Jeremie back to his room as Aelita rejoined them. When they entered, they saw Sissi Delmas sitting at Jeremie's desk, idly looking at the book there.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT BOOK!" Jeremie roared at Sissi, causing her to spin around, jump up from the chair, and back away from the desk.

"Jeremie, what's your problem!" Odd hollered back at Jeremie.

"Look, I'm sorry," Jeremie said, "I want to explain it, and everything I know to you, but I want you all here when I do. Get Yumi over here."

* * *

It took Yumi thirty minutes to arrive. During that time, Jeremie sat on his bed, slowly eating a slice of bread and sipping on orange juice. He wanted to devour the whole thing, but he knew if he did, he would just throw it back up. While he ate, Aelita sat beside him on the bed, helping him sit upright. At least that is what she hoped the others thought. 

When Yumi arrived, the first question out of Ulrich's mouth was, "okay, what is Sissi doing here?"

Odd answered simply, "she's involved. I met her in my dreams Saturday night, at the old woman's house. On Sunday, we talked. She's had similar experiences to you and I, Ulrich. So I told her everything. Everything."

Ulrich started, "Odd, why did you..." when Jeremie interrupted.

"Odd is right, Ulrich, Sissi must be involved in this. In part of my dream, Mother Abagail told me that we and one other would have to fight the man in the cornfield again. This Saturday night."

Everyone stared at Jeremie.

He then explained his dream. Not all of it, for that was too personal for him to tell. Aelita did try and press him however.

"You don't want to know," was all he said to her.

He then went on to explain that _he_ was responsible for the dreams that they had been having. When he checked out 'The Stand' from the library, he made it possible for both Mother Abagail and the monster they encountered in the cornfield to enter their dreams.

"If I had known, I would have never..." Jeremie said at last.

"You would have picked something else up," Sissi replied, "maybe it would have been better. Or maybe it would have been worse. At least I understand now why you yelled at me when I was looking at that book."

"Yes, and I'm sorry for yelling," Jeremie told her, "so, that's it. Saturday night, we are all going to face something more horrible than our minds can comprehend and there's no way out. No 'game over' de-virtualization if we lose all of our life points, no Return To The Past to cover it up. Nothing."

Unconsciously, Aelita pulled Jeremie closer to her.

"Saturday night will take care of itself," Yumi said to everybody, "right now, we need prepare as best we can for it. First things first, Jeremie. We've got to get you up and feeling better. It seems you have been hardest hit by whatever is going on here, and we have to fix that. For one thing, I don't think you should be left alone for any amount of time between now and Sunday."

Yumi continued, "I'm going to try and talk may parents into letting me stay here at the school until Sunday. Hopefully, they will allow it since I have to leave Monday for Japan, assuming we live to see Monday."

Aelita said, "I'll stay with Jeremie."

Ulrich smirked, "day and night?" Aelita turned and shot daggers at him with her eyes.

"I just couldn't help but notice that you were awful grimy when you were pounding on our door this morning. Almost like you had sweat your shirt through. Or _someone_ had."

Aelita jumped up, ready to mix it up with Ulrich, when Yumi smacked Ulrich in the back of his head.

"After what you've been telling me over the last few days, I don't think you are particularly qualified to be throwing stones," she told him.

"Look, all I was saying was..."

"STOP IT!" Odd yelled, "we've got 'til Saturday to get ready for this thing, and the last thing we need to be doing right now is bickering among ourselves. If we live to see Sunday, then we can toss around all of the innuendos we want. But right now, let's concentrate on the situation at hand."

"Now, since you jackasses can't seem to do that, here is what we're going to do," Odd continued, "Aelita will stay with Jeremie during the day. At night, Ulrich and I will bunk in here with him. Yumi, if your parents will let you, you and Sissi will stay with Aelita in the evenings. And the first thing I'm going to do is take that damn book and get it out of here. And Jeremie, if I ever catch you with a Stephen King novel ever again before you're twenty-one, I'm going to give you such a knuckle-rub that you'll have a bald spot on the side of your head!"

* * *

Later on in the day, Aelita took Yumi aside and told her what had happened the night before with her and Jeremie. Yumi gave her a look of, _is that all that happened?_ Aelita said, yes, that was _all_ that happened, but not for the lack of her wanting more. 

Jeremie found some time that day to tell Ulrich more about his dreams. He told him everything, including what happened in the cornfield, what happened the last few days, and how Aelita pulled him back from the abyss. He then asked Ulrich to cut Aelita a little slack, and maybe he would cut Ulrich some slack the first time someone caught Yumi in his bed.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Jeremie was up and walking about quickly, and made it down the the cafeteria to eat. Body parts were not on the menu.

That evening, Ulrich and Odd settled down in Jeremie's room, while Sissi settled down with Aelita. Yumi couldn't join them until Saturday.

That night, and for the rest of the week, Jeremie dreamed of nothing, just being surrounded by Aelita's scent. Aelita dreamed of standing over Jeremie, holding a bow and arrow in her hands, making sure nothing would harm Jeremie in his dreams. The seed that the old woman gave her was glowing brightly in her chest, filling the area all around her with light.

Odd spent his dreams with Sissi, scratching around in the dirt at the old woman's cabin, looking for worms to feed Sissi's chick. The chick grew strong and would actually play a bit with Sissi, something that would cause her face to light up with a smile. And Sissi's smiling brought a smile to Odd's face. Both of them were completely happy about this turn of events, though they didn't understand why.

Yumi dreamed of standing at the gate to the school. It was locked and Ulrich was standing behind it, holding the key. She called out to him to let her in, that this was the last gate, that she had something to give to him. She even held out the vial that the old woman had given her, but Ulrich wouldn't listen. He was standing next to the man in the cornfield, talking. Slowly, Ulrich turned away and walked off with the man. Yumi screamed for him to come back, to let her in, as she heard the sounds of Ulrich being torn apart by some horror.

Ulrich dreamed of walking through a landscape of bars and strip clubs, images of girls and women he knew promising passers by the Time Of Their Life. He stopped for a moment and talked with Milly and Tamiya, telling them that there would be a special customer in the audience at the club tonight, so they were to pull out all of the stops. Walking further down the street, he reminded Yolande that she had a 'patient' waiting for her and to get a move on or she would be the one needing a nurse.

All the while, Yumi was banging at a gate in the distance, desperately trying to get his attention. He just walked on.

And then there was the Yumi on the strip, cowering at him because she hadn't make her quota for the evening yet. He gave her a backhanded slap, told her to get back to work, and walked off. As he did, he adjusted the shiny cowboy buckle on his belt. His cowboy boots made a distinctive sound as they hit the pavement.


	16. Behind My Father's Eyes

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Thursday_

"Odd, can I talk with Ulrich privately?" Yumi asked as she walked into the boy's room the next morning.

"Sure, I'll just go play chaperon to Mr. and Mrs. Einstein," he replied, and left, closing the door behind him.

Ulrich was sitting at his desk next to the window, looking outside. He had a troubled, distracted look on his face, from what Yumi could see of it.

Yumi's dream last night disturbed her. After Saturday night, she thought that everything was going to be okay between her and Ulrich. But seeing him on the other side of that locked gate, walking off with the man from the cornfield shook her. She was hoping it was just her overactive imagination, but she was afraid that it wasn't.

"Ulrich, I'm worried. I had a dream last night about you and..."

Ulrich cut in, "don't worry about it, Yumi, it was only a dream. It's not like it could really happen or anything."

"Ulrich, everything that's been going on for the past week has been in our dreams! Jeremie came close to dying because of his dreams! Please, don't shut me out now! I don't want to lose you when we're so close..."

Ulrich stood up suddenly and turned on her.

"So you want to know what my dream was last night, do you? Alright, I'll tell you, I was walking down that street again in the red light district. Only _this_ time, I was the pimp. I told Milly and Tamiya, Milly and Tamiya, Yumi! I told them they were going to have a 'special customer' in the audience for their nine o'clock show, and to pull out all the stops for him. I then met Nurse Yolande and told her to get to her 'patient' or she would be the one needed medical attention. And you! You hadn't made the evening's quota yet, so I smacked you down like a cur!"

"You want to know what I've been dreaming, Yumi? _I'm_ the man in the cornfield! Ever since that first damn dream and Saturday night, I've been dreaming the same thing. And each and every night, I enjoy it more and more!"

"That first night, I was shocked at what I saw him do to you. But there was a little part of me that liked it. A little part that wanted to join in the fun. And each night after that, I did!"

"And you know what? I'm afraid that I'll start liking it again in the real world too! That I'll start to enjoy using people up, then throwing them aside!"

"Ulrich, you're not like that at all..." Yumi tried to say, but Ulrich cut her short.

"You don't really know me at all, do you. I've spent every year since I've been here fighting that urge to do just that," Ulrich replied.

"Did you ever wonder why Sissi was after me so much? We were at the same school before we came here. By the time we left that school, I was leading her around by the nose so badly it was pathetic! I could have popped her cherry anytime I wanted to, and she would have thanked me for it! Even with her being with Odd now, I'm almost certain if I crooked my finger at her, she'd let me fuck her in the school courtyard at high noon, with her father and everyone watching!"

"Ulrich, you don't use people that way, you never have," Yumi said, her world starting to crumble around her.

"You're right. I don't, anymore," he replied.

"Before I came here, my father was doing quite well. We had money, a nice home, all the things they say a successful person ought to have. My father got all of that by using people worse than anything that man in the cornfield ever showed me. He would brag in the evenings of the things he made people do to impress him. And then he would laugh when he would describe how he crushed them!"

"I grew up listening to that, Yumi, living that. I thought that's how you made it in the world."

"Then, a few years back, something happened. He was trying to get me into this upscale school in Switzerland. Said that it would look good on my resume later in life. To do it, he was trying to get in good with this one man, a real old money type, Old World Aristocracy. Anyway, my father tried to set up some kind of business deal for this guy and it blew up in his face. Badly."

"We lost everything. Father had to resign his job, but before he did, he managed somehow to make it look like his best friend had botched the deal. He even testified for the prosecution at his friend's trial! That man is now serving thirty years in prison for something he didn't do."

"So, my father got another job, and joked about how he screwed over his best friend. Because of our debt, I had to come here, instead of that fancy school. And I finally saw my father for who and what he really was."

"He uses my mother and I just like he uses everyone else. And we play along, because if we don't, he'll discard us like yesterday's garbage. I have to do something to excel at school here, or he will send me to some military school in the back end of nowhere, and that'll be the end of me. I've lain awake nights wondering what he is making my mother do."

"And then I met the man in the cornfield. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be a user. But he reminded me. When we met, he said 'Long time no see.' I told him I had never seen him before, but I was wrong. He's the man behind my father's eyes."

Yumi just stood there in shock. Until this moment, she had never realized just what Ulrich was hiding all these years. Part of her wanted to just turn and leave. Run as far away from him as she could. But she remembered what her mother told her on Monday.

_Ulrich is your karma. Nothing will change that._

He had turned his back to her, his hands resting on the desk, his head slumped. He was defeated, condemned, resigned to his fate and place in Hell.

After a moment of quiet, Ulrich heard her call his name.

"Ulrich, I don't believe you are that man. I don't believe you are your father. I have seen users in my life, and you are not one of them. The last 'user' I met got his jaw jacked for his trouble."

He then felt Yumi's hands gently rest on his shoulders. They pulled him upright and turned him around. Ulrich's eyes went wide.

In the silence, Yumi had removed her clothes, and stood nude before him.

He couldn't help but to look. Standing there before him, she was more beautiful than he had ever imagined, even in his nightmares.

She said, "you say that you're a user, that you can bend anyone to your will. Well, I don't think so. But even if it's true, it's too late for me. I've known almost from the day I first laid eyes on you that you, Ulrich Stern, were my destiny. I've questioned it, I've fought it. Even now, part of me wants to run as far as the west is from the east to get away from you. But I can't."

She drew him close, placing his hands on her hips.

"If you are a user, then use me. I can't escape my destiny. And I would rather be your dish rag in the darkest depths of Hell than to sit at the Right Hand of God without you."

"Take me."

Ulrich stared into her eyes. They were as calm as a summer's evening breeze. She would let him. He could do anything with her, to her, and she wouldn't complain, wouldn't raise a hand to stop him. He could even kill her and she would still welcome his embrace.

The demon that had been hidden in his heart reared up and roared, _TAKE HER!_

Ulrich suddenly pushed Yumi away from him. She stumbled back and fell back on his bed. The demon roared in triumph. Yumi lay there on Ulrich's bed, watching him, waiting for whatever would come next. The calmness never left her eyes. He stood there, eyes shut, his hands at his sides, clenching his fists.

"I... WILL... NOT! I WILL ROT IN HELL FOR ETERNITY BEFORE I DO THAT TO HER! GET OUT OF MY SOUL, YOU SON OF A BITCH! IF YOU WANT TO RAPE HER, YOU'LL HAVE TO DO IT YOURSELF! BUT YOU'LL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME AND ALL THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN TO GET TO HER! BEGONE!"

The demon screamed its rage in Ulrich's soul, and fled. Ulrich collapsed to the floor.

Yumi jumped up from the bed and ran over to him. He was sobbing on the floor, curled up in a ball. She knelt down beside him, and drew him up into her embrace.

Then came the pounding at the bedroom door. Sissi, Aelita, Jeremie and Odd were on the other side, wondering what was going on and what the shouting was about. Just as Yumi was about to shout that everything was okay, they burst in.

Ulrich was still sobbing on Yumi's shoulder, but she had managed to turn him enough so as to provide the barest amount of modesty. But it was still pointedly obvious that she wasn't wearing anything.

Even as she felt the heat build up in her cheeks, she returned their astonished looks with patient calm.

Jeremie recovered first. He quickly shooed the others out of the room. Taking one last look in the room himself before closing the door, he said, "tell Ulrich we're even."

* * *

When Yumi and Ulrich joined the others later, not a word was said by anyone about what had transpired.

That night, Yumi dreamed of sleeping peacefully, her husband standing watch over her.

Ulrich dreamed of standing at the very Gates of Hell, sword drawn, waiting for the man in the cornfield to come and try to take his wife from him. And behind him, all of the Host of Heaven stood ready to back his play.


	17. The Desert

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

_Friday_

The Teacher, Mother Abagail Freemantle, walked out the front door of her cabin to her rocking chair on the porch. She stopped at the door's threshold.

Pouring out of the cornfield, all around the house, were huge black rats, and nameless things even worse. And in the middle, standing tall, was the man.

"It's time," was all he said to her before the blackness surged forward and enveloped her.

_Oh, Crap!_ was her last thought.

_Saturday_

Yumi arrived with her overnight bag in the afternoon. Aelita had set her room up for Yumi's and Sissi's arrival. The girls got themselves settled and spent the rest of the afternoon deep in small talk.

Odd and Ulrich brought a few things along with sheets and pillows over to Jeremie's room. Jeremie was feeling a lot better now, and had actually spent the morning walking the campus grounds with Aelita.

That evening, the six gathered together in Jeremie's room. They ate snacks that Sissi and Odd liberated from the cafeteria, and talked all around the one thing all of them wanted to say, but couldn't.

Goodbye.

Finally, there was nothing else to say, nothing to do. The girls returned to Aelita's room, and the boys settled down to sleep.

* * *

The six found themselves standing in the computer laboratory at the factory. At least that's what it looked like to them. But there were some differences. Like the missing wall, that looked out on to the old woman's yard and into the burned remains of the cornfield beyond that.

The old woman herself was sitting in the console seat Jeremie usually sat in when they went to Lyoko. She looked in bad shape.

When each of the children had seen her in their dreams, the Teacher was aged, but not old. As she sat before them now, she looked as if all of the life and vitality had been sucked completely out of her. Her wrinkles were pronounced, her flesh seemed like it was hanging off of her bones. The only part of her that had any life or light was her eyes. She regarded them closely.

"Draw near, children, for my time is short," she told them. She broke out into a coughing fit.

They came to her, surrounding the chair she was sitting in. Each of them touched her, or held her hands, as if by doing that, they could, somehow, transfer a little of their life to her.

She told them, "by now you all know what is at hand, and what the stakes are. You will go into the west. You will travel as you stand here before me now. You will go until you come at last to the man from the cornfield, who is not a man at all, but a vile thing from the depths of the Pit."

"If one of you should fall, the others must continue on. Those that survive, must ultimately Stand against this demon."

Another coughing fit wracked her frame.

She continued, "I have no way of knowing whether any of you will survive to Stand. I have no way of knowing whether or not you will ultimately prevail when you do come against him."

"But I do know that all of you together have the capacity to defeat it. When the time comes, your heart will show you the way. The only advice I can offer you is this: 'the only way that Evil may prevail is for Good Men and Women to do Nothing.' Sometimes, a Good Person Standing up to Evil is the only thing that will defeat it."

"Now, go."

They disappeared.

* * *

They found themselves standing in a desert. Five of them were reminded of the Desert Region on Lyoko. Sissi, having never been to there, thought it looked like it was somewhere in the Southwestern United States. There weren't sand dunes for miles around, just hard packed dirt with scrub bushes trying to suck moisture out of the ground. There were also large cactus plants dotting the landscape, their trunks rising like men holding their hands up in surrender to the heat.

And it was hot. Even though the sun looked like it had just risen in the east, the heat beat down on them like a blast furnace.

Off to the west, they saw mountains rising in the distance. The tallest peak had a menacing look to it, like a headsman waiting at the chopping block for his next victims.

As they looked around at their surroundings, the also looked at each other. Ulrich, Odd, Yumi and Aelita were dressed in their Lyoko garb, but with differences. Instead of the bright colors they typically wore, the colors were more muted, more earth toned. In addition, Aelita had a bow with a quiver of arrows on her back.

The emblem on Odd's cat suit was different. Instead a picture of Kiwi the dog, there was a picture of a rabbit standing on its hind legs. The rabbit's ears were also silver and glowing, rather than brown. The other, well, odd, thing was the silver chain that was looped around his neck. It trailed away from him to a similar loop around Sissi's neck.

Sissi was dressed in loose trousers and a tunic that reached down to her knees. The front and back were tied together at the sides with cords. On the front of the tunic was a beautifully intricate illustration of a fox running rampant alongside a rabbit. The strange thing was, the fox wasn't chasing the rabbit, they were running together. Sissi was holding a staff in her hand, about as long as she was tall. Every now and then when you looked at it, it seemed to change from a staff to a spear to a pike to a halberd.

Jeremie, the other one never to have been to Lyoko, was dressed for the desert. He was wearing khaki colored clothing, stout walking boots, and a wide-brimmed hat. He had no weapons other than what looked like a pistol holster on his belt.

Each of them were wearing a belt that held two bottles and a pouch. One of the bottles turned out to be water, about three liters worth each. The other bottle had a red cross on the front of it. When Jeremie held his, something told his mind that it was a healing elixir.

The pouch contained a bunch of wafer like things. Odd instantly ate one.

"Umm, good." He went to eat another one but stopped. "Oh boy! Just one of those things filled me right up. I'm not hungry at all!"

"That's quite a statement from the Stomach That Couldn't Stop," Yumi chided him.

"Okay everyone, we've got to pull ourselves together now," Jeremie finally said, "we have to go west. I'm guessing that that means towards those mountains over there," pointing to the peaks in the distance.

"Even though we have these healing elixirs and the food and water, we need to be real careful. We don't know how long it will take us to reach where we're supposed to go, and what we have here may not even last us the day. So, everybody, conserve your supplies as much as possible."

With that, they set out to the west. Odd and Sissi went first, then Ulrich and Yumi, then Jeremie and Aelita. The chain between Odd and Sissi didn't seem to hinder them at all. It would grow and shrink according to the distance between them. It would also pass through solid objects, like it was more a ghostly apparition than a solid thing.

They walked for what seemed to be hours. The heat continued to beat down on them from all sides. After a while, it was almost like something was pounding on them. They could almost hear the boom, boom, boom of a hammer beating away at them.

The sun was a quarter of the way across the sky when the first attack came.

Odd hollered back that something was coming at them from the west. Sissi also shouted that something was coming from the south. Both Ulrich and Yumi saw something coming at them from the north.

Odd and Sissi ran back to the group, and they formed a protective circle around Jeremie and Aelita. Jeremie had drawn the weapon in his holster, and Aelita nocked an arrow on her bow.

As the creatures closed in on the group, they got their first look at their attackers. The creatures were horrible parodies of people they knew.

Two sets of creatures, with perverted likenesses of Herve and Nicholas, launched them selves at Sissi, shouting, "betrayer!"

Sissi swung her staff at the creatures, striking both. When the end of the staff touched the creatures, it changed to a blade that cut both of the things in half.

Sissi, amazed, said, "I guess cheerleading wasn't a waste of time after all," and set out against the next attackers.

Odd was dealing with creatures shaped like Sissi's father, Principal Delmas.

"How dare you trifle with my daughter's affections! I'm going to feed you your own entrails!" it said, swiping at him with its claws.

Odd activated his energy shield, deflecting the thing's blows, He managed to step back two steps, then fired two Laser Arrows into the thing. He then snapped off a round at a creature about to gore Sissi from behind, killing it.

Yumi was throwing her fans at images of her father, who was raging at her for her disobedience. As she caught a returning fan, she sent it out again to destroy one that looked like William Dunbar, seeking revenge for the humiliation he suffered at her hands.

Ulrich ran into a thicket of creatures, all looking like his father. He savagely hacked at each one, only to have two more replace the fallen one.

The creatures were starting to swamp the fighters.

Aelita took aim at images of Franz Hopper with her bow, and let fly. As soon as the arrow left the bow, it multiplied, and each arrow struck a creature. She quickly nocked another arrow and fired again.

Jeremie aimed the pistol-like weapon at creatures looking like him, and fired. A bright white beam burst from the weapon, spreading out and destroying everything in front of the barrel. Jeremie was startled, not only by the blast, but the fact that even though Aelita was directly in the path of the beam, it didn't touch her. Putting two and two together, he turned to the others and fired.

All of the creatures were instantly destroyed, leaving his friends unharmed by the blast.

The remaining creatures broke ranks and fled. Aelita raised the aiming point of her bow and fired the arrow at the retreating monsters. The arrow multiplied again and cut down every fleeing attacker.

The took stock of their situation. No one was seriously injured, but Sissi had suffered a slash wound to her shoulder from the creature that Odd killed. The only other damage was that Sissi's water bottle had been ripped open during the battle, spilling out all of her water.

Odd was standing next to her, looking at the wound. "Hey, Einstein, how does that healing potion work?"

Sissi took her bottle of potion, opened it, and took a drink. Instantly, the laceration on her shoulder was gone. She replaced the stopper on the bottle.

"How did you know to do that," Ulrich asked her.

"I just touched the bottle, and something told me to take a drink," she replied.

Odd marveled, "wow, that's about the simplest field manual you could have. Just grab it and it tells you what to do!"

"Yeah, and Einstein's ray gun is pretty slick too," Yumi added, "and how did you know that those arrows could do what they did, Aelita?"

"I didn't," she replied, "I just fired. I was as surprised as everyone when it did what it did."

"Yeah, it's great we have these things," Jeremie broke in, "but we only have a limited amount of ammo for them. Look at this."

He showed them a meter on the ray gun.

"That needle was pegged all the way on the right when I pulled this thing out," Jeremie said, "but now it's an eighth of the way to empty, and I only fired two shots. It's a powerful weapon, but it has a limited capacity, and I don't see any way of reloading it."

Aelita had removed the quiver at her back and was checking her arrow inventory.

"I've got thirty-three arrows left, Jeremie," she informed him, "I used three in the fighting."

"Three dozen arrows to start," Jeremie said, "okay, Aelita, take a look around and see if you can recover any of the arrows you shot. Then we all need to unclench a little bit before moving on."

The next attack came just after midday. By that time, the heat was starting to take its toll on the team. Sissi was having the worst time of it, since she had lost her water bottle. Odd helped her by giving her some of his water, and Jeremie suggested that she pick up a stone and suck on it, to keep moisture in her mouth. She gave him a disgusted look when he suggested it, but later on Jeremie noticed that she had found a pebble and was sucking on it.

Once again, they had advance warning about what was coming. This time, they approached the attack differently.

The attackers were coming from north, south and west again. This time, just when they came into sight, Jeremie fired one round from his ray gun at each formation. Each time, the beam spread out and destroyed the attackers as far back as they could see.

No more came from the south, but there was another formation charging them from the north and the west. This time, Aelita provided their response. She aimed high up into the air, and let an arrow fly loose to the north. The arrow multiplied and multiplied and struck every attacker coming down on them, killing them.

She then turned to the west group and fired another arrow. It too wiped all of the attackers out.

They were down to thirty-one arrows and three-quarters of a charge left on Jeremie's gun.

"You know, Jeremie, I think we've got this thing worked out now," Odd said confidently.

He was wrong.

Soon after the midday attack, they were attacked again. Once again, Jeremie and Aelita destroyed their attackers from a distance. But this time, as soon as the first attack was repelled, another one took place.

Each time, they would repel the attack, and another one would spring up. The demon seemed to have an endless supply of monsters, and wasn't afraid to use them.

Jeremie's ray gun gave out first. He had turned it on an advancing force from the west and fired when it went click! and disappeared.

Odd quickly started firing Laser Arrows at the oncoming horde. The rounds Odd fired didn't multiply or take out multiple attackers at once, but every monster hit dropped dead instantly.

Seeing Jeremie no longer could defend them, Aelita turned to fire at the oncoming line. But Jeremie shouted, "No! Conserve your arrows! Let the others help!" Aelita relented, but stayed at the ready.

Once again, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi and Sissi were in the fight. Blades flashed, fans flew, Laser Arrows struck, staves pounded. Finally, the attack was over.

This time the damage was worse. Aelita was kneeling over Jeremie, cradling him in her arms. A monster had ripped his abdomen open, and he was spilling viscera out on the ground. Yumi quickly grabbed her bottle of elixir, and poured the whole bottle onto Jeremie's wound.

Immediately, his intestines snaked their way back into his body, cleaning themselves as they did. Finally, the gash in his belly closed up, leaving no scar. Jeremie passed out.

"Yumi, why did you dump the whole bottle on him," Ulrich said.

"Because that's what the bottle told me to do, it was the only thing that would save him," she replied.

Jeremie came around a few moments later, but was still very weak. Yumi and Ulrich picked him up and helped him to walk along.

The sun was three-quarters the way across the sky when they came to the wadi. The water in it looked cool and inviting. Sissi dropped her staff and ran to the edge.

"Don't drink it!" Odd shouted, pointing.

Sissi stopped, using all of her will power, and looked where Odd was pointing. So did everybody else.

At the edge of the water, lay one of creatures, writhing in agony. It would convulse, and black, brackish fluid would vomit out if its mouth. It looked like the foul stuff was coming out of every orifice the thing had. From the way the ground looked around it, the thing had been dying that way for hours.

Sissi jumped up and backed away from the water. She gathered up her staff, and they moved on. Odd gave her the last drink from his bottle.

After they had moved away from the poisoned water, they stopped. They all took drinks from their bottles, then divided the rest among them all, refilling Odd's bottle in the process.

They also ate the wafers they had been carrying. After eating one, each of them was renewed like they had just ate a full meal. Even Sissi's thirst was slaked for a time.

The final assault came as the sun started setting in the west. This time, the creatures came at them from all sides. Aelita had no choice but to fire her arrows all around. Towards the end, she was firing them straight up into the air, with a veritable rainstorm of arrows falling down upon their enemies.

And still, they came.

Their strategy this time seemed to be to exhaust Aelita's arrow supply, then rush in and crush them. So they would pour in, even with hundred, or even thousands, of them falling, it seemed that just as many took their place as fell.

Aelita finally came to her last arrow.

The others surrounded her and Jeremie. And they let the monsters close in.

It seemed like they were swimming in a sea of horrors, all trying to get at them. Ulrich and Sissi were slashing left and right, Yumi's fans were flying everywhere. Odd was alternating between his Laser Arrows and energy shield. And the monsters pressed in closer.

Jeremie finally shouted to Aelita, "fire the last one straight up, it's our only hope now!"

Aelita did.

The sky was black with the falling arrows. It seemed like millions fell around them, in them, amongst them. All of the creatures within eyesight were felled, but none of them were even scratched by an arrow.

Aelita dropped her bow, exhausted and relieved it was over. It, and her quiver disappeared.

Then the next wave came.

The six never had a chance. The creatures quickly overwhelmed them. Their weapons were quickly lost, and the things savaged them all, but stopped well short of killing them.

Jeremie looked up, through the haze of his own blood, at the peak that reminded him of an executioner. The sun was setting behind that peak now, and two rays of blood red sunlight shone through two breaks in the skyline, looking for all the world like two menacing eyes.

And the two shafts of light did become two red eyes. And the shadow of the peak coalesced into the shape of a man wearing an executioner's hood on his head.

That shape stepped forward in his cowboy boots, his big cowboy buckle glinting in the light of the rising moon behind them. He removed his hood.

It was the man in the cornfield.


	18. Their Stand

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

The demon regarded his prey.

"I'll have to say, you really gave it a good go," he started, "but you had to know in the end it would be like this. You should have figured that out once the attacks started coming one after another. I've got the length and breadth of Hell to draw from, and that idiot Teacher only gave you those puny playthings to protect you."

"But you want to know the really funny part? That pool back there. If you fools had only drunk from it, you would have been invincible! It's only poisonous to Hell spawn!"

He laughed at the grand joke.

"But what kind of host am I? Here you are, all broken and bloody, and I've got such a grand eternity planned for us. You won't be able to enjoy any of the festivities like that."

He unzipped his pants, then walked up to Jeremie, Ulrich and Odd in turn, and pissed on them. He then turned to the girls.

He didn't urinate on them. He masturbated.

When the fluids touched each of them, they experienced burning like they had never experienced before as the fluid soaked into them. The burning finally subsided, and they found they were healed.

The demon seemed satisfied, and zipped up his pants. At a waive of his hands, the creatures holding them down drew back. They all stood up.

"Now, before we get started, I want to introduce you to an old friends of yours. He was the one who made it possible for us to be here tonight. Come on out, XANA!"

Then an oily black cloud materialized from the nothingness. It coalesced into a roughly humanoid shape. Then the Eye of XANA, the symbol of all of their fears for the last few years, formed on its forehead.

"That's right, Jeremie. That fool of a Teacher told you it was Chance that led you to 'The Stand'? Nope, it was my faithful toy here that did it. Since you let him out of Lyoko, I've been able to teach him a few things about mortals. And snaring you lot was his first practical application of what I taught him. I'm very pleased with you, XANA. Now go your way."

XANA just bowed to his master and disappeared.

"And I haven't forgotten you either, dearie," the demon said, turning to Aelita, "I've got a little surprise for you too. Because, without him, I wouldn't have XANA to play with."

With that, another figure materialized on the scene. This was a person, not a phantom. He was lashed to an upright frame, spread-eagled. It was Franz Hopper. He looked oblivious to everything around him. Aelita tried to run over to him, but was unable to move.

"Isn't that touching, even after daddy ruined your life, you still want to hug him again. But, he's in no shape to watch the fun, now is he? All those years in next to total sensory deprivation will do that to a person. We'll just have to do something to fix that."

The demon spat in Hopper's face. The madness faded from his eyes. He shook his head, and looked about him, his eyes finally settling on Aelita.

"Aelita!"

"Papa!" Aelita once again tried to run to him, but was frozen in place.

The demon gestured and Franz Hopper writhed in pain, his face locked on his daughter.

"You're going to have eternity together, _princess_, I assure you. It'll be fun watching you rape your own father, along with Jeremie."

"But enough foreplay, it's time to get down to business."

"I promised each of you something special when we met again. And I promised myself I would take a good long time with you before you even saw the neighborhood of the Gates of Hell."

"You might _think_ you know what's coming, but you have no idea. Boys and Girls, you could drive yourselves insane contemplating what awaits you, and you won't even be close to the shadow of what's to come."

He started to change, becoming a black cloud against the night.

"I am going to take years, decades, centuries, preparing you for the first tiny glimpse of the Hell you will spend eternity in. You will grovel, abase and abuse yourselves in front of the whole of Creation, and that won't even prepare you for the thought of what going to Hell will be like for you."

"This is going to be so much fun!"

Then he struck.

* * *

Jeremie was back in the blackness. But this time, the blood and gore was not only Aelita's, but his as well. In his mind, as he was savaging at Aelita, _she_ was savaging at him. They both were screaming in agony and ecstasy, the ecstasy morphing into agony which would then morph back into ecstasy.

Through the haze before him, he saw Aelita, his victim, his tormentor. At moments, between the rage and the pleasure, she looked at him with despair in her eyes along with tears. He was certain he looked the same to her.

And all the while, her father watched them in despair.

Then the blackness drew away from them, like a viper rearing back to strike one final time.

They had somehow managed to stand up during the assault. They now stood at arms length, whole for the moment. From above, the blackness regarded them.

Aelita looked at Jeremie. He looked defeated. He was about to fall to his knees, to begin his groveling. For that matter, so was she. Then something flared in her mind, and she smiled. She reached into her chest, her hands passing right through her ribs and into her heart, and pulled something out.

It was the seed that Mother Abagail had saved for her. It was glowing brightly, the first filaments of root and branch worming out from the husk.

She offered the seed to Jeremie, and with a voice calmer than she felt, said, "Jeremie, I love you and I have faith in you. We're going to make it through this somehow."

Jeremie looked at the seed in Aelita's hands, heard her words, and recognized what she was giving him. He stood up, took the seed, and her hands, and pressed them to his chest. The seed passed through into him without resistance.

"Now, Creator, watch your futures end," the demon roared to the heavens.

He smiled at her, one last time, and drew her into his arms, one last time, as the blackness descended for the final time.

Their world went black again.

Then the universe exploded white.

* * *

Odd had never experienced being whipped before. His father had smacked his butt once for lying about some stupid thing, but this was in an entirely different galaxy!

It seemed that every surface, every pore, every orifice of his body was struck simultaneously. And with each blow, hooks would embed themselves, then rip out on the backstroke. And this happened over and over again.

He saw Sissi being stretched out spread-eagle again, the cruel stakes being slowly driven into her. And then came the knife, with its gutting hook. And in the midst of his agony, he saw her slowly skinned alive. And after her flesh was gone, the demon proceeded to rape her with the knife.

And all the while, Odd was helpless to do anything. And for each cut, each swipe, each thrust, that the thing gave Sissi, Odd felt it happen to him also.

Then the blackness drew back from them, and prepared.

Sissi stood before Odd, whole again, within his grasp. She was shaken and terrified, barely able to stand, after what just happened. Odd reached out to her.

She came to him, knowing that this was the end. But, as she came into his arms for the last time, she remembered something. Something that brought a smile to her face.

She reached into her chest, her hands passing right through her ribs and into her heart, and pulled something out.

It was the baby chick they had been nursing back to health. Only, it wasn't sickly any more. As a matter of fact, it wasn't hardly a chick any more. The downy chick feathers had changed to bright, orange/red feathers, suitable for flying. Its glow was so bright, it was as if the chick, now a bird, was on fire.

Sissi held out the bird to Odd and said, "we're getting out of this, aren't we?"

Odd looked at the bird in her hands, and finally recognized it. He took the bird, and her hands, and pressed them to his chest. The bird passed through and into him without any resistance.

He drew Sissi close to him, smiled at her and replied, "you bet your cute little nose, we are."

"Now, Creator, watch your futures end," the demon roared to the heavens.

Then they, as one, turned to the blackness and raised their middle fingers in a first, final, gesture of defiance.

Odd and Sissi roared back, "resistance is futile!"

Then their world went black.

Then the universe exploded white.

* * *

The blackness swirled around Ulrich and Yumi. It seemed in the distance just behind her, Ulrich saw everyone he ever knew in his life, with his parents in the front row. And he was just as certain that Yumi was seeing everyone she knew behind him, with her parents also getting prime seating.

The blackness roared its joy and tore into them. Their clothes flew apart in shreds and their arms and legs were pulled apart, spread-eagled. The tatters of their clothes flew all around them, mocking them.

Then the scraps of cloth started to change. A scrap whirled and writhed into a picture. A very intricate, finely drawn picture. Ulrich saw Yumi in that picture, doing something his mind could hardly comprehend was pleasurable to anyone involved. The picture now swirled, then landed on Yumi's chest, over her heart. Ulrich also felt a tattoo form on his chest, over his heart.

When the picture, now a tattoo, touched her, it seemed like she instantly experienced what was depicted. At the same time, so did Ulrich. Their tattoos oozed with fresh blood.

Then another tattoo formed. Then another. And another. Each one more depraved than the last. And each time, they would experience the full impact of it as soon as it touched their skin.

Yumi, could hardly stand it. She could see her mother's eyes staring at her, at what was happening to her. And she knew that this was no dream for her mother any more than it was a dream for Yumi. And all the time, _this is your karma_, was thundering through her head.

Finally, the blackness drew back.

She was standing, naked, still covered in her tattoos, before Ulrich and all of Creation. Just as he was standing naked before her with his. He was about to fall from what had just happened. He was struggling to stand, to remain defiant to the end.

This was it. The End. There was no way out, no game over and let's start over again, no Return to the Past to save their asses.

And Yumi never told Ulrich she loved him.

That thought jogged a memory in Yumi. She reached into her chest, her hands passing right through her ribs and into her heart, and pulled something out.

It was the vial that Mother Abagail gave her. The one with the tear inside.

She staggered over to Ulrich, holding out the vial, and said to him, "Ulrich Stern, I love you with all my heart, my mind and my spirit. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my days with you."

He looked at her, startled, then looked at the vial in her hands. As if he finally understood, he took the vial, and her hands, and pressed them to his chest. When it touched his chest, the vial evaporated and the tear inside melted into his chest.

He pulled her into his arms and replied, "Yumi Ishiyama, I love you with all my heart, mind and spirit. And I will spend all of the rest of my days with you." They both felt something form around them and between them, a bond, almost like an invisible chain, that would never be broken.

"Now, Creator, watch your futures end," the demon roared to the heavens.

They kissed each other deeply as the blackness took them.

Then the universe exploded white.

* * *

The universe exploded white.

Their Mission accomplished, their Wounds healed, they released the Spirits locked within them.

From Jeremie and Aelita came Faith, the Reality of things not yet seen, the ability to Call Things That Are Not As Though They Are.

The seed Aelita kept safe and sowed in the soil of Jeremie's heart exploded into a great Tree. That Tree entangled the demon, lifting it up, binding it. And the demon roared in agony.

From Odd and Sissi came Hope, the knowledge that morning will follow the night. Hope, the one Spirit left in Pandora's Box when Evil entered the world, according to the Greeks, the one that helped heal the world when she nurtured back to health.

The chick that Sissi and Odd fed and nursed had grown into a great bird, a Phoenix. It screamed its defiance at the demon, trapped in the branches of Faith. The bird then saw the wicked knife in the demon's grip, and Remembered.

The bird changed and took on the form of a man, of Odd. It then wrenched the cruel blade from the demon, and shoved it up the demon's ass. The bird thrust it up until its shoulder met the thing's body. It pulled its arm out, and flung the soil and gore from it. The tip of the blade, the cruel gut hook, was just peaking out of the demon's nostril. And the demon roared in despair.

From Ulrich and Yumi came Love, the Greatest of All. The love of a man and woman, of family, of friends. The steam of passion, the flood of desire, the cool water of companionship, the still pool of closeness.

The tear that Yumi wept for, and gave to, Ulrich, exploded into a great Flood. It washed away their tattoos, all their pain and shame, all of their doubts and fears. It engulfed the demon and carried it away. Farther than the east is from the west, the Flood carried it.

Into the waiting arms of the Hosts of Heaven.

They had been waiting, ready for the end. They now took the demon, and struck it. And they cast it back down into the depths of Hell where it was again imprisoned, and it will remain until the Final Judgment. And the demon howled in fear as it fell.

The Flood subsided, and watered the Tree. The Tree flourished, grew tall and strong, and gave shelter to the Phoenix. And the Phoenix cast its light all around it, a beacon for all of Creation to see.

Faith, Hope and Love. Triumphant.

The universe exploded white.


	19. Together

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

For a time, there was nothing but whiteness. The six seemed suspended in mid air. They couldn't tell up from down, nor left from right.

Then, all around them, a voice spoke.

"It Is Good."

And again, the voice spoke, "It Is Good."

And one last time, "It Is Good."

It seemed like the heat, that had always been around them, increased each time the Voice Spoke. It was almost unbearable to them. Then, after the last word, they were plunged into cold.

At first, the cold was as unbearable as the heat had just been. But quickly that subsided, until they felt like they were being caressed by a cool breeze on a hot summer's day.

They stood there, each woman in her man's arms, all dressed in white linen, as the brightness dimmed just a little bit. Then, someone stood before them.

Teacher the Light Bringer, Revealer Of Wisdom And Knowledge, Flame of the Refiner's Fire, known to the six as Mother Abagail.

Her face was radiant. There was no sign of harm or hurt anywhere on her. She smiled at her Pupils, and it was like the sun had risen.

"I am so proud of you, My Children," she told them, "you have endured way beyond what most your age could endure, and triumphed."

"With your victory today, you have dealt a blow to the Great Enemy, one that will not easily be recovered from."

"But what about XANA," Jeremie asked, "he escaped."

She replied, looking straight at Yumi, "trouble not your hearts for the nuisance called XANA. You will have a small roll to play, but that thing will be trapped for a time. For now, you all have shall have a Rest."

"Now it's time for you all to get on Home. God Bless, and God Speed. And who knows," she said, still looking at Yumi, "I might just decide to come and visit you someday."

With that, the universe grew bright, so bright it washed out everything else.

The last thing Yumi saw before everything went white was Abagail's eyes looking directly at her.

_Sunday_

The boys woke up and bolted upright. They looked around the room, trying to get their bearings. Realizing that they were back in Jeremie's room, and still alive, they bolted for the door, sheets and pillows flying. They collided, and there was a scramble to see who would actually open the door. Finally, someone was able to get their hand around the doorknob and get the door opened.

The spilled out into the hallway, crashing into the opposite wall. Unfazed, they bolted to the stairwell to get to their objective, the Girl's Dormitory.

Meanwhile, in Aelita's room, the same chaos was occurring. Once they had realized that they were still alive and home, they bolted for Jeremie's room to make sure the boys were alright.

They collided on the Boy's dorm level, just before the boy's made it to the stairwell. They landed in a pile on the hallway floor.

At last, they were together again, they had won! Everybody was alright, everyone was still alive, and...

There was someone missing. They looked at each other trying to figure out who wasn't there. Is was Sissi.

She too had rushed out with Aelita and Yumi. But when they met up with the boys, she stopped. She stood there, about three steps away from them, her hands clasped together, her face full of longing to join in, but couldn't. Because she really wasn't one of them. She was afraid that the past week had been some kind of cruel hoax, and now, at the end, she would be ridiculed and cast out.

No one said a word. Ulrich and Odd just held out their free hands and beckoned Sissi in. She nearly leaped the remaining distance into them.

Now, they were whole.

After a while, they broke their embrace. Aelita wrapped herself in Jeremie's arms, and Jeremie buried his head in her neck, feasting on the scent of her. Ulrich and Yumi locked themselves in a passionate embrace, and threatened never to come out of it. Odd and Sissi just held each other, as if both were still getting used to the idea of each being together.

But Sissi did say, "hey Odd, I've heard you're such a ladies man. So, what gives? Am I chopped liver or something?"

Odd, drawing her into a kiss, said, "no, you're a marathon, and I'm sure as heck not going to tire out in the first three minutes!"

As she pulled back from his embrace, she smirked, "you had _better_ last longer than three minutes, buster."

* * *

After a while, the emotions were too much to maintain, and they sat back. Then the blushing and tittering started, growing into laughter. When they all ran out of their bedrooms seeking each other, they ran out in their bedclothes, which ranged from Jeremie's pajamas to Yumi's nightshirt (and little else). Realizing that they were courting disaster, they picked themselves up and went to get showered and dressed.

They spent the rest of the morning together. Jeremie and Aelita, Ulrich and Yumi, Odd and Sissi. They ate the remains of the snacks from last night. They didn't speak much, their presence together being conversation enough.

Then afternoon came. Aelita, Sissi, Odd and Jeremie decided to go the the old factory, to get Sissi set up and formally introduce her to Lyoko. As the four left, Jeremie was telling Sissi that he thought he could recreate her costume and staff weapon in the computer...

Ulrich left with Yumi to get her things and walk her home. He was going to spend as much time as he could with her before she left for Japan tomorrow. He didn't return until Monday afternoon.


	20. Yumi's Mother

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

When they got to Yumi's house, she called out to her parents, but no one answered. They looked around, until Yumi found a note for her on the message board in the kitchen.

_Had to rush Father to the hospital. Hiroki staying with friends. Will call soon. Mother._

"Oh my God, no," Yumi said and started frantically looking around for any indication where her mother had taken her father.

Her cell phone rang, granting her relief.

"Hello? Mother! Where are you? How is father? What's going on?"

Yumi listened to the responses from the other side of the conversation.

"Alright. Give Daddy my love. Come home soon," she said, and ended the phone call.

"What's up, Yumi?"

"My father woke up sick with a fever this morning. It got so bad that mother took him to the emergency room. Hiroki was spending the night with friends, so she had him stay where he was. She just now got around to calling me."

"What's wrong with your dad?"

"Kidney stones. He's trying to pass kidney stones. Mother says he'll be in the hospital for days, and they may have to do surgery if he doesn't pass them soon."

Ulrich winced. He had heard once that passing a kidney stone is the closest thing to childbirth a man could experience.

"I'm really sorry, Yumi. Does that mean the trip is off?"

"No. I'm still going, father insisted. I'll be flying out at one o'clock tomorrow afternoon."

"Oh."

With that, Yumi and Ulrich went up to her room. Ulrich dropped his bundle where Yumi indicated and turned to leave.

"Ulrich, wait for me downstairs, okay? I just want to change."

"Yeah, sure."

Ulrich went back downstairs and she closed her door. Tomorrow afternoon. She knew deep in her heart that it was only for a short while, but she was still afraid. Afraid that she would never have another chance to be with him.

Yumi walked over to her bed and started undressing. She was working on automatic pilot, changing out of dirty clothes into clean ones. No thought needed to do that.

Then something caught her eye. On the nightstand by her bed, was something she didn't put there. She looked closer.

They were foil packets. Inside them was something round and flat, like an octopus sucker. She stared, because she never had, or purchased, anything like that, ever.

Condoms.

Under the condoms was a note with one word, _karma_. The note was in her mother's handwriting.

Yumi thought for a moment, her mind no longer on autopilot. She then quickly undressed, and went to her closet.

Downstairs, Ulrich was waiting for her in the family room, trying to figure out what kind of game was played using black and white rocks.

"Ulrich, could you come up here a moment," Yumi's voice called from upstairs.

"Okay," he replied and started upstairs.

When he got to her room, the door was closed. He knocked and went inside.

Yumi was standing there before him, wearing the most beautiful silk kimono he had ever seen. Even in the poor lighting of her bedroom, it shimmered. He had never seen her wear it before.

She stood before him, a blush on her cheeks. She didn't say a word to him. She just moved a little bit, and the kimono slid off of her, to pool around her feet. She wasn't wearing anything underneath.

Ulrich couldn't believe he could be surprised by her that way twice, but he was. Not only that, she was even more beautiful now than she was earlier in the week, when she saved him from himself.

She didn't say a word. She stepped out of the pile of silk on the floor, walked up to him and kissed him.

He fell, drowning, into her.

* * *

Nothing prepared them for what came next. No words, no thought, no action, no previous sensation could have even come close to preparing them for what they gave each other that afternoon. It was like trying to explain the color blue to something that couldn't understand the concept of sight. There was just no compatible frame of reference.

They spent the afternoon, then the evening, and the night together. Each time, they would come together, feel and feed the desires in the other, then slide into blissful rest.

Each time, one of the foil packets would disappear.

* * *

"Yumi."

"Um Hmm?" Yumi said as she stirred contentedly in Ulrich's arms.

"I just wanted you to know that your father was resting as comfortably as he could when I left him."

Yumi's eyes flew open. There, sitting on the edge of her bed, _on the side Ulrich was asleep on_, was her mother. She calmly regarded them.

Yumi didn't move a muscle.

"Have you have finished packing?" her mother asked, idly brushing a stray hair from Ulrich's face.

"Yes, except for a few things, I have," she replied, still tense.

"What are they? If you need something washed, I will wash them for you. And I can do some other things while I'm at it," she said, gently stroking Ulrich's forehead as she did.

She then stood up, and began gathering their clothes from the floor. Yumi watched her mother from the bed.

"I assume he brought nothing else with him," she asked Yumi.

"No, just my stuff," Yumi replied.

"Good. Your brother won't be coming home until after you have left. Your father is resting in the hospital. I'll be off to take care of these now."

"Please inform Mr. Stern that breakfast is at 8 am."

_Monday_

Ulrich woke up at seven in the morning and groaned. He knew he was in Big Trouble.

Yumi was lying next to him, watching him. She had propped herself up on an elbow.

"Hi, you," she said.

"Hi yourself," he replied, "ah, not to seem rude or anything, but how am I supposed to get out of here?"

"Too, late, we're busted," she giggled and told him about last evening's conversation.

Ulrich quickly looked under the sheets to see if everything was still attached. Yumi giggled again.

"Don't worry. Nothing got broke yesterday that wasn't supposed to, stud."

"Yeah, well I figured your dad had my balls by now and your mother was wearing my guts for garters." Yumi laughed.

"No, father is still in the hospital and my mother wasn't surprised to find us. She was the one who left these for us," Yumi said, holding up one of the empty foil wrappers.

"Damn," was all Ulrich could say.

"Breakfast is at eight, so you'd better get moving," Yumi's mother called from downstairs.

"C'mon, lazy," Yumi said, throwing back the covers, "let's get going."

* * *

The rest of the morning was, interesting, to say the least.

Ulrich managed to get to the bathroom with out being seen naked somehow, and then got the shock of his life when Yumi just walked right in after him. She brought underwear and robes for them both when she entered, along with two towels. Then, she just calmly walked over and started running a bath.

"Well, what are you waiting for, climb in," she told him from the tub after filling it and climbing in herself, "and mind your aim would you? You're worse than Hiroki."

Ulrich joined her and made a mental note afterwards that if he lived long enough to own his own home, it would need a large bathtub in it. Bathing was much more fun than he remembered it being.

After they dressed for the day, they came down to breakfast.

"Good morning, Ulrich, how are you this morning," Yumi's mother called from the kitchen.

"Fine, Mrs. Ishiyama," he replied.

"Good," she replied, "a good night's sleep is always refreshing for both the body and spirit."

Both Yumi and Ulrich winced at that comment.

She had laid out breakfast on the table by the time they entered the kitchen, and they sat down. Mrs. Ishiyama seated Ulrich next to Yumi.

Yumi and her mother talked of little things, making sure Yumi had everything packed and ready to go, Yumi assuring her that she was ready. Her mother said all of her travel documents were in her purse and to remind her to give them to Yumi before she got on the plane.

Ulrich spent the whole time waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He wasn't sure what to make of Yumi's mother. She sat at the table, chatting with her daughter about her preparations for the trip, giving her things to relay to her sister-in-law, and acting as if this were just another normal day in her life. She regarded Ulrich exactly as if he had appeared on their front doorstep this morning to see Yumi off to Japan, rather than having just woken up in her daughter's bed with her.

They finished breakfast and Mrs. Ishiyama went to clear the table. Yumi started to help her when she spoke, "no, Yumi, you start bringing your things downstairs. Ulrich, could you help me, please?"

Yumi's eyes turned to Ulrich, startled. Ulrich had a look on his face like he had just been called to the gallows.

"Sure, no problem," was all he said.

He got up, gathered up the remaining dishes, and joined Yumi's mother at the sink. Yumi went to her room to get her baggage.

* * *

The drive to the airport was quiet.

Yumi and Ulrich sat in the back seat, close together. Mrs. Ishiyama just drove, not saying a word.

Ulrich was wondering what was going to happen next. Especially _after_ Yumi left.

Then they arrived at the airport, found a parking spot, and got Yumi's luggage out. They got her checked in, her baggage stored for the flight, then went to the departure gate.

They had to part company at the security screening station, because only passengers were allowed beyond it. Yumi pulled Ulrich into her arms and kissed him, telling him she loved him and they would see each other soon. She then hugged and kissed her mother, quietly telling her, _thank you,_ and went on her way.

Ulrich and Mrs. Ishiyama stood looking at each other for a moment after Yumi left.

"We need to get you back to school now, Ulrich," she said, and they left.

When they got back to the car, Mrs. Ishiyama told Ulrich to sit in the front seat with her. He did, and they drove off.

As they left, Ulrich couldn't take the silence any more. "Mrs. Ishiyama, I..."

"Ulrich, what my daughter told you was true. I left the condoms for her, tacitly giving her permission to do what she did. I knew it would happen one way or the other, so I made as sure as I could that no problems would arise to complicate your lives in the near future."

"Fate also played its part in the whole thing. It is unfortunate that my husband has to endure what he must, but if he had found you two together, he would have killed you both."

Ulrich gulped.

"I don't know if Yumi told you this, but I have some idea of what your lives are _really_ like. And if the choice were mine to make, she would never leave the shores of Japan ever again."

"But is isn't. _Karma_, we say. Fate or Kismet you might say. It is yours and her _karma_ to be together, to do the things you do, to fight the battles you must. I can only stand aside and bow to it."

"But promise me this, swear by whatever god or gods you hold dear that you will protect my daughter with your life. And know that if you ever trifle with my daughter's heart or hurt her, I will personally feed your liver to the dogs."

"I swear before God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and before all the Hosts of Heaven that I will keep her safe with my very life and soul, if need be," he told her.

"Good," she said and smiled at him at last, "and one more thing, you two really need to learn to be more discrete in your trysts. Some people might not understand."


	21. The Beginning

Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

* * *

After that battle, XANA wasn't heard from, except briefly, for some time.

Yumi went to Japan, and returned a few weeks later, with a tale of ghosts and a game she called go and XANA being trapped. When she returned, she fairly well jumped into Ulrich's waiting arms at the airport, something which shocked her father. He was just about to reprimand Yumi and give Ulrich a piece of his mind when Yumi's mother took Ulrich in _her_ arms, warmly hugged him, and gave him a kiss, saying how glad she was that he was able to meet Yumi on her return. Mr. Ishiyama spent the entire trip home slowly shaking his head and muttering to himself.

Odd and Sissi grew closer. He was right, she was a marathon, and he intended spending the rest of his life running it. The first time Principal Delmas saw them walking arm in arm across the campus, he nearly fainted. It took a long time for him to accept Sissi's choice of boyfriend.

Around Christmas, Odd gave Sissi a gift. Two rings, sized for her and him. They were white gold, and they looked like chain circlets. For as long as they lived, they never took those rings off.

Aelita and Jeremie grew closer too. But there was always just a little bit of distance between the two. Whereas most young couples would let their passions run away with them, Jeremie always seemed to keep an iron grip on his. Aelita had no doubts about his love for her, but sometimes she was almost driven to tears because of his control. It was a long time before she understood why Jeremie was that way.

Jeremie never read another Stephen King novel in his life.

Life slowly returned to normal, at least what passed for normal in their lives. They were six Soldiers, fighting on in their little piece of the Great Struggle between Good and Evil. And they would Stand and Prevail against the very Hordes of Hell itself.

_Years later..._

"Push, Yumi, push!"

"Uuuhhhhhh...Aaarrrggghhhh!"

Panting with effort, Yumi bore down once again, seemingly pushing her life down and out of her. But it wasn't her life she was pushing out.

Ulrich, her husband, was by her side, mopping her sweating brow with a sponge. She held his hand as she pushed through the contractions, nearly crushing it several times. He didn't seem to notice.

"It's okay Yumi, you're doing great," he told her.

"Just a little more... I see the crown," the doctor said, reaching down, "and there's the head!" Yumi could feel him as he grasped the baby's head and turned it.

"Here comes the shoulder, one more, Push!"

"Aaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!"

With a shout, she pushed one last time. With that push, the baby rushed out into the doctor's waiting hands, a girl. The doctor held the girl up and gave her a smack on the bottom, causing the child to cry, thereby taking her first breath.

"It's a girl! Father, come meet your daughter!"

Ulrich turned from Yumi's side and went to where the doctor was sitting holding the new life in his arms. The doctor swiftly clamped the umbilical cord, then gave Ulrich the scissors so he could cut it. When he cut the cord, one of the nurses in attendance took Ulrich and the baby over to a table, while the doctor delivered the afterbirth. Ulrich laid her down, and the nurse began checking the child over, taking measurements, fingerprints and footprints, and doing the mundane things nurses do when a new life comes into the world.

After the nurse finished, she cleaned the baby up, diapered her and swaddled her in a blanket. She gave Ulrich the little bundle, and he brought their child over to Yumi's side.

"Yumi, meet your daughter..." Ulrich hesitated. They had never decided on name for the baby, boy or girl.

Yumi, still tired from the delivery but smiling, took the baby in her arms, settled her upon her breast, and performed her own, mother's, inventory.

Ten little fingers, ten toes, hair like her father's (he'd never be able to deny that he was the father, even if he were so inclined), a nose just like hers, and eyes...

Yumi blinked twice to clear the tears from her eyes and looked at the baby's eyes again in wonder. She'd seen those eyes before. Years before, in a place of Testing and Healing.

"Abagail!"


End file.
